A Whisper In The Dark
by MagicalEra
Summary: In the Wizarding world, nothing is ever what it seems. When four girls get themselves tangled up in the Marauders’ world, their lives become entangled. Each must overcome romance, loss, friendship, and above all...the whisper....
1. New Beginnings

**Chapter 1: New Life**

It was pouring down rain. It was the type of rain where one feels like the sky must surely run out of water soon, because our Earth would soon be flooded. This is not a true fact, as witches and wizards alike know many spells to stop said floods. A small suburban area was deserted at the moment, because of these rain. Families were shut away in their homes on this summer night, keeping warm by the fireplace as the storm passed by.

But suddenly, there was a loud pop, and a red-haired girl appeared out of nowhere. She took off at a run to the nearest house, dragging her trunk behind her and her hair and clothes getting thoroughly soaked, as is expected in the rain. With two enormous leaps up the stairs, she reached the front of house number 35. She pressed her long pale finger to the doorbell, and shivered as she waited for the door to open, a padlocked trunk in her hand.

It suddenly flew open and standing before the redhead girl was a boy of 15. He had brown hair and stood at 5'8. His bright blue eyes were twinkling with mischief. A frown fell onto his handsome face as he saw the red-haired girl standing before him.

"Lily?" He asked as he opened the door wider. The boy waved for the girl to come in. "What are you doing here? I thought you were staying with your sister." Lily nodded her head slowly and stood next to the boy as he shut the door.

"I was, Wyatt, but I decided to come here." Lily said, looking slightly dejected. Wyatt placed a hand on the girl's tense shoulder. She relaxed slowly underneath his hand. "I couldn't take her anymore." Lily started to sob into her hands, and Wyatt looked surprised. His eyebrows furrowed and he rubbed his heel into the marble floor.

"I, uh...I am going to go and get Alyssa..." Wyatt said, as he slowly inched away from the pretty redhead. "This is girl troubles. Yeah, Alyssa is a girl. She can deal with girl troubles." With these last words, Wyatt sprinted from the main hall and into another room.

Lily was left sobbing all alone in one of her best friend's home. Over the past summer, Lily had made frequent trips to Alyssa's, especially after what had happened to Lily's parents. Marigold and David Evans had been murdered by the Dark Lord Voldemort. Lily had been living with her sister Petunia and her boyfriend, Vernon Dursley. Both disliked Lily for her 'abnormalities', as Petunia called them. Petunia also blamed Lily for their parents' death, and, truthfully, Lily could only agree.

"Lils!" Just as Lily looked up from her hands, a girl with dark blond hair tackled her into a hug. Alyssa Phoenix had once again come to Lily's rescue. Lily cried into her best friend's shoulder, and Alyssa just stood there, looking unperturbed. She gently rubbed her friend's back as she waited for the tears to pass. Alyssa was smart enough to know that she wouldn't get anything out of Lily until she stopped crying.

"I hate her!" Lily sobbed into Alyssa's shoulder. She just rolled her eyes and pulled Lily's face away from her shoulder. Alyssa cupped her hands on either side of her face and looked straight into Lily's bright green eyes.

"No you don't. She's your sister." Alyssa whispered, and then she let a smile come over her face. "Deep, deep, deep, _deep _down, you and Petunia both love each other immensely...I think." Lily let loose a giggle, and Alyssa grinned happily. "There's the Lily Evans I know and love!"

"Lyssa, do you think your mom and dad would mind if I stayed here until we go back to Hogwarts?" Lily whispered, her laughter fading. Alyssa nodded.

"Of course you can. They know how hard this has been on you. Just let me go ask them, you stay here." With those parting words, Alyssa went through the same door Wyatt had gone through just moments before.

Lily had never felt out of place in the Phoenixs' home. Brian and Holly Phoenix had always graciously accepted Lily, and she had begun to think of them as second parents. Yet now, they were all she had left for parents.

"Well hello, hello!" Lily immediately rolled her eyes and turned around to face Christopher and Wyatt, the identical twins. They were both standing on the stairs behind her. Christopher had been the one that had spoken. "Looks like we have a flower in our midst!" Lily just shook her head.

"Chris, can't you come up with something more creative than that?" Lily said with a grin. "I mean, seriously! A _flower_?" Christopher smiled at Wyatt, and they shared comical looks towards another.

"I believe she thinks I am not creative..." Christopher said and Lily wished that she could have taken back her words. Wyatt grinned towards the redhead.

"Yes, I do believe something must be done about that..." Lily's eyes widened as Wyatt and Christopher jumped five steps down onto the landing. They walked towards her at a small rate, and Lily backed into a wall.

"Hey!" Lily breathed a sigh of relief as Alyssa came into the room. She drew her wand and pointed it at her brothers. "Leave Lily alone! Do you guys have no decency?" Wyatt and Christopher stepped away, and Alyssa put her wand back into her pocket. Lily smiled gratefully at Alyssa, as Wyatt put his left pointer finger to his chin.

"Decency?" Wyatt asked, mocking thoughtfulness. "No, no, I think me and Chris missed that line while we were standing in line for good looks." Lily and Alyssa both laughed out loud as Chris and Wyatt faced each other pretending the other was a mirror.

"Brothers! You can't live with them, can't live without them." Alyssa said, but then she grinned. "No, no. Just can't live with them." Wyatt and Christopher stopped their fake mirror act and turned towards Alyssa!

"I say! How rude you are, Alyssa!" Christopher said, pretending to be hurt. Lily just grinned at the display of sibling love, something she never knew very much about.

"I agree. What a painful thing to hear!" Wyatt said as he pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. Then a smile crossed his face. "Want to go get some of mum's famous cakes?"

"I say!" And with that, Chris and Wyatt skipped towards the kitchen. Alyssa rolled her eyes and turned to Lily.

"Are you sure you want to stay with those goof-balls around?" Alyssa asked, and Lily smiled and nodded her head.

"Anywhere is better than with my sister, trust me." Lily muttered. Alyssa smiled weakly at Lily.

"Ok then, Lils. Your home is now my home!" Lily and Alyssa proceeded to drag Lily's trunk up the stairs to Alyssa's room.

'Here's to a new beginning,' Lily thought bitterly as Alyssa and Lily walked into her bright room.


	2. Friendly Encounters

**Chapter 2: Friendly Encounters**

"Well?" Alyssa asked impatiently, and Lily just rolled her eyes. She had been staying with her for almost four days. Lily hadn't felt this happy since before her parents died back in June. "Did any owls come yet? You know that if we want to go to Hogesmeade with the girls we have to leave soon!"

"Lyssa, calm down!" Lily said with a giggle. "I am sure one of them will write back soon. You only just sent the owl this morning. I am sure that either Brittney or Alaina will send us an owl soon." Alyssa was currently pacing up and down at the bottom of her bed. Lily was lounging on said bed, and eating a box of Bertie's Every Flavored Beans. Alyssa stopped pacing and placed her hands on hips and mockingly glared at Lily.

"Are we talking about the same girls here?" Alyssa said in a loud, rushed voice, and Lily couldn't help but giggle. "Alaina, the world's best known procrastinator, and Brittney, Ms. Forgetful?" Lily dropped her box on the floor as she laughed at a new arrival. A curly, black haired girl had just appeared in the doorway, her blue eyes wide at the display. Alyssa failed to notice and continued with her rant. "I bet you anything that Alaina got the letter set it down on her desk, went out for a run, ate breakfast, took a shower, and _then_ decided that she could answer me! And you know what the answer will be?"

"Yes?" Came the voice from the door. Alyssa spun around, and there stood Alaina Katrina Riley, with a smirk on her freckled face. "What do I win...I am positive that's the right answer." Lily fell off the bed as she was engulfed in a fit of laughter. Alyssa just smiled weakly at their other best friend, and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Prize, Lainy?" Alyssa said with a smirk. She walked over and hugged Alaina. "I don't believe I said anything about a prize."

"Oh drat," She said, with a grin. Alaina then turned her attention towards Lily. "Lils, what on Earth are you doing on the floor." Lily stood up, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.

"I was laughing at you two." Alaina gasped in mock shock and turned towards Alyssa.

"Did you hear that?" Alaina whispered. "She was laughing at _us_! My word!" The three of them burst into giggles. None of them had ever been able to keep a straight face when mocking one another. They did not have the skill of the Phoenix twins.

"How did you get in here, Lainy?" Alyssa asked as Alaina sat herself down on the now vacant bed.

"Your brother let me in. I don't know if it was Wyatt or Christopher." Alaina said with a grin. "I can never tell those two apart. They are too much alike." Lily nodded in agreement. She sat up from the floor and leaned back against the bottom of the bed. Alyssa had resumed her pacing, and was taping her foot impatiently.

"What is she doing?" Alaina whispered to Lily. Lily smirked at her and passed her one of her beloved beans.

"She is waiting for the owl from Brittney to arrive." Lily whispered as both she and Alaina watched Alyssa walk back and forth across the room. "Its what she had been doing before she started rambling about how much of a procrastinator you are." Lily smirked at Alaina, who did not reply. She laid back onto Alyssa's pillow and started at the ceiling.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Lily eating beans, Alyssa walking, and Alaina just relaxing on her bed. The silence was suddenly broken by Alaina taking a deep breath.

"I am sorry about your sister, Lily." Alaina whispered. Alyssa immediately stopped and threw Alaina a glare worthy of Severus Snape. Alyssa and Lily had not talked about Lily hardly at all since the night that they had stood in the main hall together. Lily nearly changed the subject every time Alyssa mention it.

"Its not your fault my sister is a witch hating prat." Lily snarled. Then she sighed and stood up. "She blames me for their death, Lainy. It was because of me that You-Know-Who went to our house that night and killed them . If I had been home I would have been dead, too. Maybe again, I would have been able to save them." Alyssa shook her head and stood in front of Lily, with her hands on her shoulders.

"You are lucky, Lils." Alyssa said softly. "All three of us were so happy that you were not home! You can't blame yourself for your parents deaths!" Lily laughed bitterly and sat herself down on Alyssa's bed. Alaina sat up and placed a comforting hand on Lily's back.

Lily did not understand. How could Alaina and Alyssa not comprehend what she was saying. They were her best friends along with Brittney, yet they stood there telling herself that she could not blame herself. It was not right! They needed to understand that it was Lily's fault. Lily had a right to blame everything that had happened that night on herself.

"It is too my fault." Lily said bitterly, as tears ran down her face. "If I had been normal-," Alaina cut her off before Lily got too far into her uncalled for incrimination towards herself.

"_No_, Lily!" Alaina said. "Its not your fault! You can't think like that. Its His fault, not yours. You-Know-Who is to blame for all the horror that he is causing our world. I may know better than anyone what you are going through." Alaina snarled at this. Her younger brother Casey had been killed by You-Know-Who a year ago. He had only been thirteen. When he had died, Alaina had distanced herself from her friends, and had taken along time to pull her back out again.

"But they weren't a part of our world." Lily whispered, as she started to shake. Alyssa wrapped an arm tightly around her shoulders. "They weren't like us. We are different from them. We aren't the same." Alyssa could not help but roll her eyes at Lily's comment.

"Lily, is that you talking or your sister?" Alyssa whispered, and Lily groaned. It was true that Petunia had often said many things like that to Lily. All three of Lily's friends had been shocked at Petunia's tendencies to hate witches and wizards. All of them had grown up in a complete magical environment, and to spend time with Petunia-the-witch-hater was more than anything that they could stand.

"Alright, you guys are right." Lily whispered. She was addressing the sisterly likeness, not the real problem that had started the conversation. "So lets get off this grisly topic, and talk about something else...like Lainy and her boyfriend..." Alaina immediately blushed red and started to bite her lip. At that moment, Alaina was saved by a blond hair girl walking into the room.

"BRITTNEY!" Alaina squealed and jumped off of the bed to engulf her in a hug. Brittney looked slightly shocked as she didn't hug her back. "Oh girl, how can I thank you. You just saved me from whole lot of questions." Brittney smirked knowingly as she hugged Alyssa and Lily in turn.

"Oh about Jake?" Brittney said with a smile, and once again Alaina went red. She laughed as the girls broke into giggles.

"Drat. I am cornered." Alaina said with a weak grin.


	3. Diagon Alley

**Chapter 3**

"You would think after six years of shopping, those two would know what they were doing." Brittney said to Lily, who smirked. Alaina and Alyssa were a few steps ahead of them, looking at their school list, and looking dearly confused.

All four of the girls were carrying bags filled with school supplies. Hogwarts was going to begin in a week, and following true Alaina fashion, the girls had almost waited for the last minute to actually do their shopping. Before leaving, Alaina had proudly declared how happy she was that the girls were following in her footsteps, but it hadn't taken long for Alyssa to shut her up with a well placed silence curse.

"Hey," Lily whispered, with a large grin on her face. "Its Alaina and Alyssa. They are some of the weirdest friends we have."

"I heard that!" Alyssa called back and she turned around. "Its not nice to talk about people behind their backs, Evans!" Alyssa had a smile on her face.

"Would you rather us I do it in front of your back?" Brittney said with a smirk. "That may be difficult, but I think we can manage. Huh, Lily?" Lily nodded her head, her eyes wide. Alyssa rolled her eyes and turned back around.

Just not in time.

There was a loud crash as four people crashed into each other. Alyssa and Alaina's bags slipped from the hands and the contents spread all over the place. Brittney and Lily rushed forward to help their friends up, but Lily froze in her tracks.

Oh this was not good.

"Wow, we took a little spill, didn't we?" A handsome man with smooth dark black hair was sitting upon the ground. He was extremely gorgeous, everyone in all of Hogwarts thought so. "Are you okay, Remus?" Sirius Black asked.

Oh this was defiantly not good.

"Fine, fine." A 17 year old man stood up and brushed his knees off. He had short brown hair, and very light mahogany eyes. He had several scars, but none were very noticeable, and strangely seemed to disappear with time. Remus Lupin held out his hand to Alyssa. She blushed read.

"Thanks," Alyssa whispered, and she blushing a bright red. Remus held onto her hand a moment longer than was necessary. He stuffed his hand into his pocket, and he too turned red. Sirius however was the complete opposite.

"ALLY!" He exclaimed, with much enthusiasm. He jumped onto his feet and grabbed Alaina's wrists. He tugged her up too roughly and she shot into his arms. Alaina blushed pink and quickly pushed herself out of Sirius's arms.

"Black!" Lily snarled as she walked forward. "Where's your counterpart?" Not that Lily cared, James Potter had always been the last thing on her mind, and to her, he always would be. However, if James was close by, she wanted to get her and the girls out of there as quickly as possible.

Remus was currently helping Alyssa pick up the many magical objects she had dropped, including owl biscuits for her red owl, Rose. Once again they were in a race for who could blush more. Alaina had already gathered up her items as soon as she had escaped Sirius. She was now hiding behind Brittney.

It was hard to imagine Alaina shy, but she defiantly was. It had taken many months for Brittney, Alyssa, and Lily to get her to open up. When she finally did, they were shocked by how different and more carefree she was.

"Aw, Evans..." Lily gulped at the sound of that voice. She slammed her palm to her forehead. "Did you worry about me?" Lily was too afraid to look around, thinking that her nightmare had come true.

"Lily? Worry about you?" Brittney scoffed, with a large grin plastered to her face. "That's a laugh." Lily took a deep breath and turned slowly around.

There stood the immature, big-headed, selfish, bullying, arrogant, self-centered, conceited, inconsiderate, beautiful, handsome, wonderful Quidditch playing jerk.

'No!' Lily thought in her head. How could she be thing those things! James Potter was a horrible person and did not deserve any praise.

"Potter-," Lily snarled under her breath. "Just leave me alone, today. I don't even want to hear your voice." The bespectacled boy's eyes widened in shock. Lily knew he had not done anything wrong, but it was the pretense of what he was going to do that was the problem. He opened his mouth to speak but Alyssa cut him off.

"James, if you want to keep all of your body parts, I suggest you keep silent around Lily." She said this kindly, and James nodded. He looked slightly hurt and dragged his feet over to where Sirius and Remus stood.

They two completely different group of friends wandered off in different directions to finish their shopping. Little did they know that one day quite soon their lives would be in great peril and all they would have would be each other.

James Potter, was after all the last thing on Lily's mind.

Or so she thought.


	4. Marauders

**Chapter Four**

"Did you see the way she looked at me?" James sighed dreamily. He fell backwards onto his bed, a far-off grin on his face. "She wants me so bad." Remus just rolled his eyes as he sat at James' fairly unused desk, reading over a their schools list once more to make absolutely sure they had not forgot anything.

"Yeah," Sirius said, mocking James' dreamy state. "Like you were a slug on the bottom of her shoe." James started to agree with Sirius but then suddenly realized what he said.

"She wants me." James stated, very determined. His hazel eyes were glowing with anger as though he dared anyone to disagree with him.

"In your dreams, maybe," Remus uttered simply from the cherry wood desk. Actually, everything wooden in the Potter Mansion was made out of a cherry wood. It seemed to be Julienne Potter's personal favorite.

"Yes, and all of your dreams revolve around Alyssa Phoenix," James said smugly. Remus accidentally spilled the ink that had been at his elbow when James mentioned her name. Things like that had always happened when he was around Alyssa, as was proven earlier that afternoon. As though reading Remus' mind, James commented on the crash. "Did you do it on purpose, Remus? Just so you could hold her hand like you did?" Remus blushed red.

"Of course, I didn't do it on purpose, Prongs!" Remus sighed, as he quickly cleaned up the mess that he had made. "I was only following Sirius, the dolt." James suddenly smirked and turned his attention towards Sirius, who was looking up at the wall.

"It was you then!" James started to laugh. "You did on purpose, I bet my broom you did." Sirius started to whistle, which clearly told James that what he had stated had been the truth. Remus spun around in his chair.

"Wait! You purposely made me bump into Alyssa?" Remus' eyes filled with fury. "I could have hurt her!" Sirius rolled his eyes and walked over to Remus. He gently laid his hand down on his shoulder.

"Hey, me and Alaina went down with you two, if you didn't notice." Sirius said, with a lopsided grin. Remus rolled his eyes and turned back around to fold up his loose pieces of parchment.

"She so wants me." James muttered again, a goofy grin once again on his face. Remus shook his head and turned around in his seat to face his best friends.

"Yeah, James," Remus said, his face set stern. "Especially after that remark she made before you left. Hm, I think it was 'leave me alone'?"

"_Just_ leave me alone." Sirius said correcting him and James glared at him. If looks could kill Sirius would most defiantly be dead. "I don't want to hear your voice."

"To_ even _hear your voice, dear Mr. Padfoot." Remus said, as though he was a professor at Hogwarts. "You must learn to pay more attention, otherwise I will have to give you a detention." Sirius mocked a scared look and shrunk onto his knees, his hands in the air in a fake surrender.

"No, great Werewolf Moony!" Sirius groaned, as he went into a dramatic bow. James started to laugh, and clutched his side. "I beg of you! A torturous punishment to put on such a lowly boy! Your efforts must be focused on other things such as the object of your affection, or even how to destroy Mr. Prongs!" After this, James and Remus were bellowing laughter. Sirius stood up and bowed before them. "Thank you, thank you."

The next few minutes was spend laying blankets out on the floor to make semi-comfortable places for them to sleep. The boys quickly stripped off their shirts and jeans and laid down underneath the warm blankets.

"Why couldn't Peter come tonight?" James asked as he pulled his dark red blanket up to his bare chest. "I feel like I haven't seen him since last year." Sirius shrugged, but Remus frowned.

"He said his mother was ill." He whispered. "But I saw her yesterday, and she perfectly fine and happy. We stopped and chatted for a bit. She was wondering why we don't get together with Peter very often." Sirius sat up and rubbed his temple.

"But we invite him over here all the time!" Sirius cried, indignantly. "I have sent him an owl almost everyday since I ran away from home, and he still always gives excuses. I don't understand why he won't talk to us." Sirius laid back down again, his head buzzing.

"Have either of you realized that he uses the same excuse that Remus sometimes use to explain his disappearances from school...My mum was sick...not a very creative bloke is he?" James whispered and Sirius sighed.

"What a pity. I thought we would have rubbed of on him." Sirius shrugged his shoulders and rolled onto his stomach. This was clearly his way of telling his friends that he was going to bed.

"Good-night." James muttered as he too turned away from Remus and faced the wall.

Even if his best mates were prepared to rub this off, Remus wasn't so sure. Peter Pettigrew had been their best friend since first year, yet now he was acting strangely. It also didn't help that he kept thinking off the pretty dark blonde haired girl that he knew he could never get...

"Oh, she so wants me..." Remus was prepared to throw his pillow at James' head as he heard those words.

But it wasn't James.

It was Sirius.

Odd.


	5. Train Ride

**Chapter 5:**

"Hurry girls, hurry!" Holly Phoenix called back to the two girls as she chased after the Phoenix twins. "Hurry, or you are going to be late!" Alyssa rolled her eyes at Lily.

"Do you think my mum realizes that we still have fifteen minutes until the train leaves?" Lily and Alyssa both grinned at each other and at the same time said, "Nah!" The two girls giggled as they followed Mrs. Phoenix through the barrier to Platform 9 3/4.

On the other side of the barrier, Mrs. Phoenix pulled Alyssa into such a tight hug, that she was having trouble breathing. "Mum! Mum, I am coming back for Christmas! Mum, get off!" Alyssa shouted as she struggled to get away from her mothers tight grasp.

Lily was surprised at how little a thing as a mother hugging her daughter, made Lily feel sick. She could only imagine how Mrs. Evans would have reacted on Lily's last train ride to her beloved Hogwarts.

"Oh Lily!" Lily was shocked when Mrs. Phoenix pulled her into a tight hug. "Stay safe, deary. Be a good girl. Promise me you won't get into trouble." Before Lily could promise Mrs. Phoenix, Alyssa pulled her away towards the train.

"Bye Mum!" Alyssa yelled over her shoulder to her waving mother. Once Mrs. Phoenix was out of earshot, she turned to Lily with a unmistakable mischievous grin. "I didn't want you to have to break any promises to mother, now did I, Lils?" Lily laughed and shook her head.

"No, I guess not." Lily stepped on to the train, and she and Alyssa managed to pull their trunks and owl cages on with them. They walked down the train, looking for Brittney and Alaina. They found them in the back of the train with three other people.

'Oh bugger,' Lily thought.

"Potter?" Lily said out loud in shock. James jumped up at the sight of Lily and rushed forward. He took her hand in his and quickly kissed it. Lily pulled her hand away quickly and rubbed it against her jeans.

"Oh Lily blossom!" James sighed, romantically. "Oh how I longed for you when we were apart!" Lily brushed past him and sat down next to Brittney. She sat against the wall, so there was no way for James to sit next to her. Brittney gave Lily a sympathetic look.

"Oh Jimmy, dearest," Lily cooed, sarcastically. James jumped at being addressed like this. "While you are up, would you mind bringing mine and Alyssa's trunks in?"

James jumped at the chance to help Lily. It didn't even faze James, that Sirius was laughing at him. He quickly grabbed Lily's trunk and tugged it into the compartment. After stowing it away safely, he grabbed her owl and placed it in the corner next to Lily. As he rushed back to help Alyssa, he realized that Remus had already helped her. Remus and Alyssa sat down next to Brittney. They were both blushing, and looking anywhere but at each other. James took Remus's vacant seat next to Sirius. He was sitting next to Alaina. She was looking out the window, and not talking to anyone at all.

Lily hated seeing Alaina being shy. It made her seem much more fragile than she really was, and Lily didn't like that at all. She much preferred the zany Alaina, even if she could be annoying at times. Lily was prepared to break Alaina of this habit right now.

"How is Jake, Lainy?" Lily asked, sweetly. Alaina jumped at being addressed like this. Her eyebrows furrowed, and one look at Lily and the girls could all tell she had a secret agenda. Everyone else just thought it was a different one from what it really was.

Sirius, who had been talking to James, suddenly started to watch Alaina out of the corner of his eye. He was waiting patiently for her answer.

Alaina just shrugged. "Haven't seen him much, have I? We basically just sent owls back and forth all summer. They only time I floo'd him, Krystal answered." Lily had already known this of course, but she was hoping one of the boys would pick up on the conversation.

Her hope was rewarded.

"Why didn't you talk to him?" Sirius said as he turned around to face Alaina. She looked shocked that Sirius was talking to her with concern. Once again, Alaina just shrugged.

"I don't know." Alaina whispered, and she bit her lip. "I think its just because maybe he wanted space? When I talked to Krystal she said that he needed sometime alone, but still liked me." Sirius' brow furrowed.

"Wait!" He said shocked. "Are you talking about Krystal Chambers? Is she Jake's sister?" Brittney raised an eyebrow at Sirius.

"You didn't even know your own girlfriend's brother?" Brittney asked, she looked at Sirius with mock concern. "Did your mum drop you on the head as a baby?"

"Actually, yes she did. But that is beside the point." Sirius said, and Alaina giggled. Sirius flushed and looked mighty pleased with himself. "We never got around to much talking, now did we?" Sirius winked at Brittney who rolled her eyes.

"There is more to going out with someone than snogging, Sirius," Alyssa said exasperated. Lily grinned happily at her friend, and she also noticed that Remus suddenly started to blush again.

"Yes," Sirius said, with his trademark grin. "But snogging is the best part." James laughed and elbowed Sirius playfully in the ribs.

"Yeah, girls talk to much don't they, Padfoot!" James said, excitedly, as Remus looked at him, mentally pleading with James to stop talking. "A good ol' snog is the only nice way to get them to shut up." Lily growled and stood up.

"And that, Potter, is one of the many reasons why I will never date you!" Lily snarled, angrily. "You seem to think that women are possessions, well they aren't. Potter, one day you are going to end up alone and trust me, you will be one of the saddest men in the world." James just smirked up at her.

"I won't be alone, Evans," James said, and even Sirius looked at James with a surprised look. "Cause you will be with me." Lily groaned and threw open the door that led out of the compartment.

"Sorry, girls, but I just remembered that I have to go to the prefect meeting," Lily snarled. "I will meet you back here later." Lily stomped off, and slammed the door as she left.

"What did I do?" James asked and all five of the current people in the compartment glared at him.


	6. Prefect Meeting

**Chapter 6**

"So all we are waiting for is our _beloved _head boy." Severus Snape snarled. It was about twenty minutes after Lily had left her friends behind. She felt guilty about snapping at them, but Potter had just infuriated her.

Lily did not understand why Remus had not arrived yet. It was not at like Remus to forget, and also, Lily had stated that she was going to a prefect meeting. Remus should have stood up and followed her out.

"Sorry I am late!" Lily spun around and found herself standing in front the dark haired headboy. "Its alright, now that I have arrived, you may now begin!" It was not Remus.

It was James Potter.

"You?" Lily groaned, her eyes wide. "How did you get to be headboy? Oh why did I ever do to deserve this?" James looked at her quizzically, but then sat down next to her.

Lily Evans had wanted the postion of Headgirl ever since she had come to Hogwarts. She had always looked up to every single headgirl as Lily passed through her years at Hogwarts. It did not matter what house they were from as long as they held the postion with dignity and pride. When Lily had received her prefect badge with Remus Lupin in fifth year, she had been overjoyed at the prospect. It was one more step towards the life that was soon to come. Lily had received her headgirl badge a week before her parents had been killed. They had both been so proud of Lily, and to Lily, it was only one more step to the goal Lily had been waning to reach.

"So what do we do, Evans?" James muttered to Lily out of the corner of his mouth. Lily gave James a glare that very effectively silenced him.

"Mr. Potter, as we are now headboy and headgirl, it is our duty to make sure that the prefects' know their place, to oversee school decorations and special events, and to patrol the school after hours." Lily muttered in a hushed voice. She realized that all of the younger prefects were waiting for Lily and James to start.

"Thats it?" James said with a large amount of relief. Lily rolled her eyes at him. "Trust me, my beautiful blossom, it will not be that difficult to be patrolling with you after hours." Lily groaned and stood up.

"All right, prefects..."

Lily did not find it as difficult to instruct the prefects as she had thought it was going to be. She knew quite well what to say, as she had been listening to the headboy and girl the last two years. James, however, was leaning back in his seat, his head resting in his hands. He was throwing horrid glares at Severus Snape, his worst enemy. Lily just rolled her eyes at their childish acts. James was such an immature prat! He sat there, ruining one of Lily's moments, and she didn't get special moments very often.

"All right, so tomorrow at breakfast, James will pass out your patrol schedules. Fifth year prefects can patrol the corridors for awhile, just to get a hang of what it is like. The rest of you can go." Lily said, and the prefects filed out. James stood up and stretched. Lily knew that he hadn't heard a word that she had said.

"Well," James said with a grin on his face. He and Lily walked out of the corridor. "That wasn't too hard. I thought being headboy was going to be a lot more difficult, huh Evans?" Lily screeched out a bunch of curse words and stomped off down the hall. However, she was interrupted by a pretty girl with streaked brown hair.

"Oh Lily! James!" Krystal Chambers, 7th year Ravenclaw prefect, stopped them in the middle of the hall. "That was a lovely speech, Lily. James, have you seen Sirius around?" James shook his head quickly, and Lily raised an eyebrow at him.

"Nope, not at all." James said, quickly. Lily wondered if Krys knew he was lying to her. "Haven't seen hide nor hair of the little bugger." Krys nodded slowly, looking slightly disappointed.

"Ok, James," Krys said slowly, as though she was trying to figure out what to say. "Well, if you see him, will you tell him that his girlfriend is looking for him?" James nodded his head and took off past Krys. Lily was slightly shocked.

"Bye, Krys." Lily whispered as she followed James down the corridor. Krys waved good-bye and headed to her compartment. "Potter! Why didn't you tell Krys that you saw Sirius today?" James shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"Sirius and Krystal broke up over the summer." James said, and Lily's forehead furrowed. "Krystal broke up with him because she told him that his mind was always some where else. Do you catch my drift? Like, when Sirius would kiss her, Krystal wouldn't see herself in his eyes." Lily nodded her head slowly.

"I understand," Lily said. "But if Krystal broke up with Sirius, why does she seem to think that they are still going out?" James shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. Lily never truly realized how muscular he was.

'No Lily Evans!' she though, scolding herself. 'Don't think about him that way. Its Potter!'

"She sent him an owl this summer about how she missed him. Sirius didn't want to agree with her. They fought a lot when they were dating, and he said that it was best for Krystal if the stayed apart and saw other people." James said, and Lily saw in his eyes, the concern that he held for his best friend. They had reached the compartment that held their friends. James tugged open the door.

"Especially, Sirius, huh, James?" Lily said with a grin. James laughed a hearty laughed that made shivers go down her spine.

"Especially, Sirius, Lily. Especially him." James whispered as he looked at Sirius. Lily noticed that all of their friends had their mouths dropped open.

"Do mine ears deceive me?" Sirius asked, with a smug grin on his face. His feet were propped up on the opposite seat.

"Lils?" Brittney said, her blue eyes wide. "Did you just call him James?" Lily clapped her hand over her mouth like she had said a swear word. James quickly drew the attention off of him and Lily.

"Hey Sirius, your girlfriend was looking for you." Sirius's feet slid off of the smooth leather and he fell to the floor. There friends started to laugh heartedly.


	7. Breakfast

**Chapter 7**

Lily groaned, as light came pouring in through her closed bed curtains. She removed her pillow from underneath her head and shoved in front of her face, hoping to block out the wretched light. Her hopes were not answered as the curtains were wrenched open.

"Lils'!" Alaina whined. She tried to tug the pillow away from Lily but she just held tighter. "Lily, you are going to be late for class...we only have five minutes!" Lily immediately sprung out of bed and went to her trunk. She began tearing things out in a rush.

"Guys!" Lily squealed, in absolute horror. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I had so much to do this morning! I had to help Professor McGonagall pass out schedules and you can't really expect Potter to write up those prefect -," Lily froze. She spun slowly around from her trunk and saw her three best friends giggling. All three were still in their bedclothes.

"Sorry, Lily." Alyssa said with a huge grin on her face. "It was all Brittney's idea. We knew it would be the only way to get you out of bed!" Lily turned to Brittney, who was looking around the room and pretending that she had no idea what was happening.

"Well, _Brattney_...please explain why you thought it would be humorous to trick me out of bed and make me believe that I had missed all of my duties as headgirl?" Lily stood in front of Brittney, who was clothed in light pink shorts and a black tank top. Brittney covered her mouth quickly to hide her laughter.

"Aw, Lils'," Brittney said with a grin. "You know I don't like being called Brattney, my sister could have come up with a cleverer name, couldn't she have?" Lily threw her hands up in the air and turned to Alyssa.

"You should have stopped her, Lyssa!" Lily said, as she fake pouted. "You know how seriously I take things..." Alyssa stepped forward and placed her hands on Lily's shoulders gently.

"Lily," Alyssa said, she looked genuinely sympathetic. "You know how much James likes it when you are mad, we were just trying to rile you up for him." Lily scowled and swatted Alyssa playfully on the arm. She turned towards her last remaining comrade.

"Lainy, please tell me that even though you were the initiator of this practical joke, that you at least argued with them that it wasn't right?" Lily pleaded. Alaina grinned and waved her hand in the air.

"Of course I did, Lily!" Alaina said, as though she was astonished that Lily could ask such a question. "What kind of friend do you think I am? I wanted to wake you up nicely with a nice spout of water, but Brittney and Alyssa preferred this way." Lily's eyes widened and she spun around to face Lyssa and Britt.

"I love you guys!" She squealed and hugged them tightly. "I defiantly owe you guys a big one!" With that, Lily speed into the washroom and locked the door behind her, leaving the three girls looking positively horrified.

"Hey!" Brittney cried. She quickly ran to the door and started to pound on it with her fist. "Lily Danielle Evans! You take longer than the three of us combined to get ready. Get your freckled butt back out here!" Lily laughed as she quickly got ready. She knew as much as she would have liked to take her time, she needed to go and find James. Lily did not trust him at all to make the appropriate prefect schedules.

Lily sighed when she realized she was finished. She had taken a total of twenty minutes to get ready, an outstanding record for Lily Evans. She did one last look in the mirror and inspected her hair. Then she opened the door and stepped back into the dormitory.

"All right girls, I'm-," Lily groaned as she realized the three girls had already left. Once again they had beat her at her own game. "Bugger."

Lily walked down to the Great Hall, alone. She had expected to find the Marauders trudging down the stairs to the Common Room, yet she had been disappointed.

"Disappointed?" Lily murmured to herself. She had to admit to herself that riding with the Marauders on the train to Hogwarts had been mighty fun, as long as she had avoided big-headed Potter. They had all been fairly decent, and even some of the jokes Sirius had made had been hilarious.

When they had arrived at Hogwarts, Lily expected the Marauders to sit in their usual spot at the Gryffindor table, about fifteen seats away from them. Instead, as the girls sat down in their normal seats, the Marauders followed. Peter had later arrived also, looking dreadfully confused as to why the Marauders were sitting with the girls.

Lily had not missed the looks that James, Remus, and Sirius gave Peter when he sat down. They were a mix of astonishment and loathing. Lily knew that Alaina had not missed it either because she was positive Alaina asked Sirius about it.

Once again, as Lily walked into the Great Hall, she was surprised to see the Marauders sitting with the girls once again. Lily also groaned as she realized the only open spot was between James and Brittney. She trudged forward, and plopped herself down in between the two of them.

"Good-morning, my dear. How was your beauty sleep?" Lily rolled her eyes, and Alyssa laughed behind her hand.

"Just fine, Potter." Lily sighed. "We need to write up those schedules for the prefects before they come over and ask for them." James smiled and helped himself to a fork-full of eggs.

"I already passed them out," James said with a look of immense pride. Lily was slightly taken aback. "I wrote them up last night. Prefects have their schedules for the next year. Yours is right here." James pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket and slid it next to her.

Lily was shocked. James did work? Without anyone telling him to? Something was defiantly up.

"Thanks, James," Lily said with a sweet grin. She made sure she put extra emphasis on his name. A grin lit up his face. "Aren't you a dear?" Alaina kicked Lily under the table, a grin on his face.

"Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans?" Professor McGonagall had just arrived behind her. "Would you please help me pass out these schedules to students?" Lily nodded, and she and James stood up.

The remaining Marauders got their schedules and compared them. Peter, Sirius, and Alaina all had the exact same classes, with their electives being Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. Alaina started blushing as she realized this. Alyssa, Remus and Brittney too shared the same classes as all three were taking Ancient Runes and Arithmacy.

"They are taking the smart people classes," Sirius said with a grin to Alaina. "Us people with normal sized brains decided to take normal brain capacity classes. Except for Divination, I do say that class is defiantly lower-leveled." The remaining friends laughed.

"You are just jealous that there are people smarter than you, Black," Remus said with a grin on his face. "Its just a sign that people are better here than you." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I am the best of the best, dear Moony," Sirius said, and Alyssa's eyes showed confusion at Remus' nickname. She made a mental note to ask Remus about it later, if she was able to make coherent noise when she was around him.

"Or the worst of the best," Brittney said with a smile. "Don't you agree with me Alaina?" She looked as though she was going to shake her head no, but then she smiled.

"No no, not the worst of the best," Alaina whispered, and Sirius grinned greatly. "The worst of the worst." Sirius' jaw dropped in fake astonishment. Lily and James had just gotten back from handing out the schedules.

"Ms. Riley!" He said in fake shock. "I did not know you had it in you to insult someone!" Alaina rolled her eyes and nudged Sirius gently with her elbow.

"I can do much more than that, Sirius." Alaina said with a grin. "Much, much more."


	8. Potions Class

**Chapter 8**

Alyssa was in her first class of the day. In potions, and unluckily for her, who did Professor Slughorn assign for her partner?

"Alyssa Phoenix and Remus Lupin."

Alyssa tried her hardest not to let out a groan. She could tell with one look at Remus that he was blushing, because he refused to look at her. How is it that Lily and Brittney became partners, yet Alyssa got stuck with her long-time crush? It wasn't fair!

"Alright, class. Quickly move to sit with your partner. They will be your partner for the rest of the year!"Alyssa quickly picked up her bag and slid into the empty seat next to Remus. She smiled shyly up at his handsome face, and he too blushed.

How was that every time she was around Remus, she got all tongue-tied like Alaina? Though, Alyssa had to admit, the comment Alaina had made that morning had not gone unnoticed by her friends.

Slughorn stood up in front of the class again, his mind traveling over his class of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. "All right, students. Your potion is on the board. I think after six years, you all know where to find potion ingredients. You may begin." Slughorn turned around and wobbled to his desk where he would sit the entire rest of the class.

Alyssa stood up to go a get the ingredients, but Remus waved a hand gently. "No, no, Alyssa." He whispered, as he pushed her back down, gently. Alyssa's shoulder tingled from his touch. "I will get the potion ingredients, you sit."

As Remus left to go and get the ingredients, Alyssa automatically missed his presence. It had always been like that, especially when Alyssa had first gotten to know him in forth year. Whenever he was close, she got nervous and wished him to leave so she could act normal again and her stomach would untwist itself. But once Remus left, Alyssa would always hope that he would return as quickly as possible. She had been forced to deal with these unanswered feelings for Remus for the past three years.

"Lyssa, are you okay?" Remus had returned quicker than Alyssa thought possible. She nodded her head and grinned at Remus.

"Yeah, just feeling a little nausea." She whispered in a weak tone. This defiantly was not a lie.

The two of them worked in silence, and Remus kept looking over at Alyssa, looking slightly worried. She tried her best to ignore these concerned looks as they became more and more frequent. Suddenly, Remus let out a low sigh.

"You don't like me very much, do you Alyssa?" Remus asked, as his head hung in the air. "If you want, I could ask Professor Slughorn for a different partner so you can work with one of your friends." Alyssa was shocked that Remus could ask such a question.

Alyssa not like Remus? Why, she was mighty well on her way to being in love with the poor bloke. Sure he had slightly shabby clothes, and he sometimes had a very pale look about him. Yet, Alyssa liked it about him. Remus was so loyal to his friends, and just had this charm about him, even when he wasn't trying. He got the cutest mischievous look in his eyes when he was with the Marauders, making him such a lovely sight to look at.

Remus looked so dejected, that Alyssa felt terrible. She summed up all of her nerve and gently placed a soft hand on his arm. "Remus, of course I like you!" Alyssa whispered. Remus looked over at her and smiled weakly. "You are one of my friends, it is just a little awkward to be your partner since we never really talk much. Don't ever think I don't like you!" There was much more to this than Alyssa let on.

Remus' face lit up and Alyssa felt a tingling sensation in her stomach knowing that she had caused him such happiness.

"Thank, Lyssa," Remus said as he straightened his posture. "Now lets get down to business."

The rest of the class, Remus and Alyssa worked hard to finish their potion. Brittney and Lily were having a fair bit of trouble, as they were not the greatest potion makers of all time. Remus and Alyssa laughed as the two girls squabbled over which potion went in a the correct time. Alyssa was shocked that their cauldron hadn't exploded yet.

"Alright, class! I am coming around to check your potions. Hurry and put the final touches on them." Remus and Alyssa grinned at each other. Slughorn walked up to Lily and Brittney.

"Hm, girls...unicorn hair first, not crushed beetles." Slughorn said as he stopped in front of their cauldron. Lily shot Brittney a glare that she weakly returned.

"What?" Brittney asked as she shrugged her shoulders. "I told you it was unicorn hair!" Lily rolled her eyes and slapped her forehead.

"Well, well, well! Great job Ms. Phoenix and Mr. Lupin! I think an O for today is called for!" Alyssa beamed at Remus who pulled her into a hug in rejoice.

Her heart must have started beating 90 miles an hour at his touch. They both let go rather quickly, and they were both red in the face.

Maybe Potions won't be so bad at all.


	9. Lunch With Jake

**Chapter 9**

"He hugged you?" Alaina cried, a huge smile on her face. "Oh Lyssa!" Alaina pulled Alyssa into a big hug. Brittney rolled her eyes at her jubilant friends.

"You two are some of the most insane people I ever met," Brittney uttered as she sat down next to Lily in the Great Hall. It was now lunch time and the three girls and Remus had met Alaina on her way from Care of Magical Creatures. This class took place outside in a little padlock close to the Forbidden Forest. Everyday, Professor Kettleborn would wobble down the slopes and show the class a new creature that day.

Alaina had told the girls that James, Sirius, and Peter went up to their dorms to discuss something important. Remus had nodded his head and sprinted towards the Fat Lady portrait, leaving a very dismayed Alyssa behind.

"Then why are you friends with us?" Alyssa asked as she sat down across from Brittney. Alaina sat down next to her. Brittney rolled her eyes at the happy girl as she reached out to gathered her lunch.

"Because, you and Alaina are crazy enough for me and Lily." Brittney said with a smirk. "As long as we have the two of you around, then we don't need to worry about us being as insane as you two?" Brittney smiled as all three of her best friends looked dreadfully confused.

"Wait..." Alaina whispered, as she thought through what Brittney had said. She started to twirl her hair and Brittney could only laugh.

"Wouldn't the two of us have rubbed off on you and Lily if we stuck around all the time?" Alyssa whispered, and she bit her lip, clearly concentrating hard on the words that Brittney had said.

"But think about it, Britt," Lily said, a smile on her face. "When we first me Alaina she was as shy as could be. I just think that me and you rubbed off on Alaina, and then once she got

together with Alyssa it was like a train crash!" Lily and Brittney started laughed as the other two girls looked once again confused.

"I don't get it..." Alyssa whispered, and she thought for a few seconds, more. Lily and Brittney quickly ate, hurrying to finish their food before class started.

Then, as though the two had twin telepathy...

"HEY!" Alaina and Alyssa cried together, hands on their hips. Lily and Brittney burst into tears of laughter at the looks on the girls' faces.

"I was not that shy!" Alaina cried, indignantly. This time, Alyssa joined in the laughter. "I wasn't!" She looked around at her laughing friends and smiled weakly. "Ok, maybe I was a little bit."

"Lainy," Brittany said with a smile. "Do you remember the way you acted towards Sirius yesterday?" Alaina nodded but then paled. She was looking over Brittney's shoulder.

"Jake?" She asked, with a look of fear. Jake could be an extremely jealous person, and Brittney immediately knew that at the sound of Sirius' name the brown-haired boy must have gone red.

When they were all in fifth year, Sirius had been going out with a girl named Naida Kinni. Sirius had liked her a lot at the time, and doted Naida with tons of gifts and hugs and affection. Then, as the story went, Sirius had found Naida snogging another boy in a closet. It had been Jake.

Ever since, Sirius and Jake had hated each other. Every time they spoke, it was words of anger or disgust. They were extremely competitive, and every time the played Quidditch, one or the other ended bloodied up.

"Hello, Alaina," Jake sneered, Alaina stood up and walked around the table to Jake. "What is this I hear about Sirius Black?" Brittney groaned at her sudden slip. She never had wanted to get her in trouble with her boyfriend.

"Jake, its no big deal," Alaina said with a fake smile. "We sat with the Marauders on the train ride here, yesterday. I looked for you but I didn't find you anywhere. Where were you?" This was in fact a true fact. Brittney had helped Alaina search for Jake everywhere, yet they had not found him anywhere.

"Well, I was sitting with my sister, of course," Jake said with a sneer that rivaled Severus Snape's. "While you were sitting with Black!" Brittany turned towards the door to the Great Hall, and at the complete wrong timing, the Marauders had chose to arrive.

Oh bloody hell!

This day was just about to get a little interesting...


	10. Confrontation

**Chapter 10**

"Peter, just tell us the truth!" James groaned. After Care of Magical Creatures class, he and Sirius had dragged Peter up to the common room to question him about the summer. They only hoped that Alaina would pass the news onto Remus.

"I am telling the truth, James!" Peter cried indignantly, as Sirius snorted in disbelief. "My mum has been sick all summer. Its been hard on our whole family!" Remus arrived panting. Sirius stood up and offered their werewolf friend his seat.

"Guess what Wormtail just told us, Moony?" Sirius growled. Remus shrugged and clutched the stitch in his chest.

"Please elaborate, Padfoot." Moony groaned, he had been in a very ecstatic mood after his potions class with Alyssa. However, after his run to Gryffindor tower, he was quite irritated.

"He says that his mother was sick _all _summer," Sirius said in a hoarse growl. "Yet, he failed to mention the time that you saw her in Diagon Alley, as healthy as a bird." Peter gulped at this as his three best friends glared at him.

"I - I - she has an off and on condition!" Peter said, quickly recovering. "I have to take care of her. Ever since my dad was killed, I have been all she has left!" The other three Marauders paled at the thought. Peter's father had been killed the following year. He had left Peter and his mother in a lot of debt.

"Look," Remus said in a whisper, as he finally caught his breath. "Lets just forget about the summer. We have other things to worry about than the amount of times we hung out with Peter. Like our N.E.W.T.s" James and Sirius both gasped.

"Not the N.E.W.T.s!" James cried out in mock horror. Remus rolled his eyes and stood up dragging Peter along behind him.

"Come on guys, lets go down to the Great Hall," Remus said. "The girls are waiting for us." James and Sirius smirked at each other and caught up with Remus, as he exited the Common Room.

"Hey Remy," Sirius said in a sing-song voice. "How was Potions with Phoenix?" At the sight of Remus' blushing, Sirius pushed further. "Did you and Alyssa kiss?" Sirius fluttered his eyes and puckered his lips at Remus.

"No," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "We just hugged." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Remus wished he could take them back.

He hadn't been planning on telling the boys what had happened during Potions class. It was actually a secret Remus had been planning on taking with him to the grave. Alyssa was the perfect girl, she was smart, clever, and oh so caring. She was beautiful with her dark blond hair and chocolate colored eyes.

Too bad Remus Lupin was a werewolf. Therefore any romantic relationship with Alyssa was impossible.

"Remy and Lyssa sitting in a tree-," Remus slapped his hand over Sirius' mouth, shutting him up.

"Sirius, I am not the one with the girl problems," Remus said with a smirk. "You are the one who is having the mixup between Krystal and Alaina." Sirius' eyes widened and he surprisingly turned crimson.

"I am not mixed up." Sirius said in a determined voice, though his eyes betrayed him. The four Marauders walked through the doors to the Great Hall. "I know perfectly well that I want - CHAMBERS!" Remus faltered for a brief second, wondering if he had heard him right. Sirius was looking absolutely livid.

"But you said last night-," James was cut off as Brittney and Lily ran forward stopping the Marauders to proceed any further.

"Sirius," Lily said in a huff. "You probably don't want to go any further. Jake is in there." Remus looked over the girls' shoulders and saw that Alaina was talking to her boyfriend, and his beautiful Alyssa was standing next to them, looking positively angry.

"I will go as far as I want," Sirius snarled and he pushed past Brittney and Lily. He stalked towards Jake. Remus groaned and followed him.

"Well, well, well," Sirius growled as he stood next to Alaina. She looked up at Sirius in shock. "If it isn't Jakey-Poo Chambers. I would say it was a pleasure seeing you again, but I hate _lying _in front of these girls. Not the proper edict." James grinned, but Lily scowled. Obviously, she thought that this wasn't good something she should let evolve, as she was headgirl.

"Well, Black," Jake snarled as he threw his arm around Alaina's shoulders. Remus winced as Sirius' face contorted in rage. "If you really don't believe that lying is right, than I believe that it is time that you finally step out of the _closet_, if you catch my saying." Peter gasped in horror, as though he expected Sirius to be extremely angry.

"Hm," Sirius said as he mocked concentration. "I believe that _cheating _your way out of the truth, so maybe I will take your advice, if there ever need be a time when I need to step out of said closet."

"Oh shut up the pair of you," Brittney growled. She had sat back down again, and was currently eating finishing her lunch. Remus grinned down at her. "Stop with the little mind games. Sirius sit down, and Jake, hurry up. You know that other students aren't allowed to sit at different House tables." Sirius and Jake grumbled.

"Fine then," Jake sneered. He kissed Alaina's cheek, and threw one last glare at Sirius. "We will finish our conversation later, Alaina." He turned around and stalked back to the Ravenclaw table. Sirius growled and sat himself down.

"Bloody hell," Alyssa sighed, as she too sat down next to Brittney. Remus blushed, but the consented to sit next to her. Alyssa smiled at him, and there was a pink tinge to her cheeks.

They all finished their lunches in total silence. Remus had to admit that it was strange having four more friends with which he could talk to. The Marauders barely knew any of the four girls, and except James who knew Lily quite well.

They eight of them left the hall, still cloaked in silence. It was as though they had all reached a pact to not speak. Sirius and Alaina were avoiding each other, each walking on the opposite side of the wall.

"Sirius!" The eight teenagers stopped and spun around. Krystal was walking forward towards Sirius, looking slightly agitated. "Where have you been? I told James to tell you I was looking for you, yet you have almost completely ignored me! What is going on with you?" Remus watched as the Alaina scowled. Remus was slightly taken back, she had always seemed like a very gentle, quiet person. Lily and Brittney were smirking. Both of them obviously thought Sirius was getting what he deserved.

"Look, Krystal," Sirius said as he looked at the dark haired girl. "Can we talk about this some other time? How about tonight at dinner? I have to go to class." Krystal narrowed her eyes, and scanned over Sirius as though she was inspecting him.

"Fine, but we will talk, tonight!" Krystal turned around and left the eight of them in silence. They continued and soon reached the end of the corridor where they would separate.

"See you guys in Defense," James said as he turned towards a set of stairs.

Once again, the eight of them separated. James, Sirius, Peter, and Alaina were on their way to Transfiguration, and the other four on their way to Herbology. At first Remus had been nervous about not having that many classes with the Marauders, but now was hardly nervous at all. Having many classes with Alyssa wouldn't be bad at all, especially if they turned out at all like Potions.

"Do you think Sirius is going to be ok?" Lily asked Remus as they stepped outside. It was a meek day. It had rained the night before, and the ground was slightly wet. The four of them sloshed their way to the greenhouses.

"Yes," Remus said, with a weak grin. "Transfiguration always cheers him up. Its his best subject. He will be fine." Lily and Alyssa nodded, content with his answer. "What were Jake and Alaina arguing about before we got there?" The three girls groaned, startling Remus.

"Sirius." Alyssa said, simply. Remus looked towards Alyssa and saw in her chocolate eyes that she was telling the truth.

"Sirius?" Remus asked, intrigued. "Why were they arguing about Sirius?" Brittney let loose a giggle, and Lily elbowed her.

"Well," Brittney said with a grin. "Me and Alaina were talking about Sirius, and at the wrong time Jake showed up. I am sure that you know very well the hatred those two boys share, so it wasn't the best timing." Remus nodded his head.

When the arrived at the Greenhouses, Professor Sprout let them into number three. There were several small tables located inside, and the four of them walked over to the one farthest from the door. Lily went to go sit by Alyssa, but Brittney pulled her next to her.

Leaving the only spot for Remus next to Alyssa.

Oh yes, this year was going to be wonderful.


	11. Slytherin Threat

**Chapter 11**

"So much for a great day," Sirius snarled as he took his usual seat next to James in Transfiguration. This morning had been great, of course. He had woken up to a the red sun burning on the horizon. And after _graciously _waking up his best friends, walked downstairs to the Common Room, where three lovely ladies were on their way to breakfast. James of course, had been disappointed that Lily was not with them. Then, however, he had hurried ahead of the rest of the girls to rush down to hand out the schedules he had spent most of the night writing up. Then Remus and Sirius had escorted the three girls down to breakfast.

Sirius had been shocked when Alaina had thrown away her shy manner and made fun of him at breakfast. Sure, it was only a little joke, but he had a feeling that she was hiding something on the inside. He had a feeling that the shy little girl was not really who she was.

It was quite strange not to have Moony in class with him. That and James had been rather distressed over it at first, but were easily adaptable to change. In Care of Magical Creatures, Sirius and James had stood with Alaina the whole time. During that class, she had started to open up to the two boys. She had laughed with them, and had even helped them prank Snape. Sirius knew he was catching a glimpse of the girl he knew was in there all along.

Now here he was, stuck in Transfiguration class as McGonagall lectured them on god knows what. James was doodling on his piece of parchment, sketching his normal LE + JP Love. Peter was sitting behind James, and he was watching McGonagall with his beady little eyes. Alaina was sitting down next to Peter. She was looking at McGonagall, but Sirius could tell that her mind was not focused on class.

"Sirius Black!" Sirius quickly spun around, and found McGonagall standing right in front of his desk. "Now that you have kindly consented to join our class, would you repeat what I just said?" Sirius thought of the first think that popped into his head. It was something Alyssa had been telling Alaina earlier about that day.

"The recipe for mashed potatoes and ketchup?" Sirius said with a smirk. Alaina let a soft giggle and McGonagall tapped her wand on Sirius' desk in a disciplinary way.

"Mr. Black, detention." Sirius smirked and looked towards James as McGonagall walked back to the front of the classroom.

"You owe me a galleon, Potter," Sirius said with a grin. "I was the first one to get a detention. Pay up!" James rolled his eyes and handed over the money. Sirius kissed it and pocketed it.

"All right class, kindly begin. Mr. Longbottom here will be passing out hedgehogs. I would like each of you to turn them into a rabbit with your partner. Begin." McGonagall proceeded to hand Frank Longbottom the box of hedgehogs. Sirius turned to James quickly.

"Work with Peter this class, Prongs?" Sirius asked, pleadingly. James smiled and nudged his head back towards Alaina.

"Move your behind, Padfoot," James muttered. Sirius patted him on the back enthusiastically and slid in next to Alaina after Peter had moved. She looked surprised that he was sitting next to her.

"Sorry about being so cold earlier," Sirius whispered, as Frank sat the hedgehog in front of them. With one flick of his wand, a rabbit now sat there. This left Sirius and Alaina free to talk the rest of the period. "I just don't like Chambers very much." Sirius said, and she smiled weakly at him.

"There is no need to be sorry, Sirius," Alaina said, as she scratched the rabbit's ears. "I wasn't mad at you. I was mad at Jake." Sirius raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why?" Sirius asked, and then he smiled gently at her. "I mean, you don't have to tell me, I know that I am not your best -," She cut him off.

"You," Alaina whispered in a rush. "We were talking about you." This was the last answer that Sirius was expecting. He reached forward and started to pet the rabbit's back, as Alaina was stilling scratching his ears.

"Why were you talking about little old me?" Sirius said. He tried to make it sound like a joke, but he was dead curious. Before she could answer, two unwelcome Slytherins came over.

"Hello, Riley." Angela Barron snarled in a unfeminine voice. Her long reddish brown hair was pulled back into a bun, and her blue eyes were glowing with malice. Standing behind her, was none other than Severus Snape. Sirius hated Snape more than he hated Jake.

"Hello, Angela," Alaina growled, viciously. "Did you lose your way? Wait, I am friends with the headgirl. Maybe if I talk to her, I could get her to put up signs for you Slytherins, that way your problem is solved." Sirius and James, who had stood up as soon as Snape was close by, let out laughter.

"Very funny, Riley," Snape hissed in a greasy voice. "But that is not why we are over here. We just came over to warn the two of you," Snape spun around to look at James. "And you of course, that you might want to watch your backs this year. You never now when I might just slip." Sirius snarled and jumped out of his seat.

"You touch her, you die," Alaina quickly grabbed his arm and tugged him back down. McGonagall came rushing over.

"What seems to be the problem?" McGonagall said as she pushed James roughly down into his seat. He looked rather shocked but shrugged. Sirius quickly snarled an incoherent word, and the Slytherins ambled back to their seats, evil smirks on their faces. "Thats much better." McGonagall added and she went back over to Frank, with whom she had been helping remove hedgehog spikes.

"Sirius!" Alaina cried, looking annoyed. "You already have one detention, don't make me loose another bet!" Sirius, thinking he was going to get reprimanded was shocked.

"What?" Sirius said alarmed.

"I made a beat with Alyssa that James would get the first detention, and that you would only get one today!" Alaina said, excitedly. "Don't make me lose again!"

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh.

"That's my girl," Sirius said with a grin. Alaina looked shocked. "What, Lainy?" She just smiled and shook her head.

"Nothing, Sirius, nothing."


	12. Voice

**Chapter 12**

The first month of school turned out to be as normal as would be expected. James and Sirius served detention four times a week, and unsurprisingly had already lost Gryffindor 100 points. Not that Gryffindor minded much, after six years of the Marauders' foolhardy business, they had begun to not worry about the points they lost. The Marauders were normally able to give them back up again, with their clever brilliance.

Lily had been pleasantly shocked by James Potter. He had not asked Lily out a single time since they had arrived at Hogwarts. She had begun to believe he was over her, but then he flirted with her nonstop. Lily had to admit that it was a step up his immaturity scale, but that did not make it any less annoying. James had also taken his job as headboy to heart. Lily had been a little worried that he would let troublemakers off of the hook, but was surprised when he gave a Gryffindor detention for helping Peeves the Poltergeist stock up on dung-bombs.

Lily looked over at the clock. It was about three AM. She groaned and rubbed her head gently. Whenever Lily woke up in the middle of the night, she found it near impossible to go back to sleep again. Lily sat up, rubbed her eyes and swung her legs out of bed. She could hear the sleepy breathing of her roommates. She smiled gently as thought of the three boys those girls were head over heels for.

Everyone could tell that Alyssa loved Remus Lupin. Lily thought they were absolutely perfect for one another. Both were smart, clever, and outrageously funny. Lily could never stop laughing when Alyssa was around. It was exactly why Lily had gone to Alyssa back in August.

Brittney, however, was a different case. She was pretty apt about hiding her little crush on Peter Pettigrew. No one really knew why she liked him. He only excuse was 'he's different.' If he was 'different', well lets just say Lily didn't like different.

Alaina however, was ten times more obvious than Alyssa. Every time charming Sirius Black got close, she would get all red, and sometimes even get tongue-tied. Though, after awhile, Alaina had started to open up to Sirius. Lily had caught them in a corner of the common room, chatting away more than once. After much pressuring from his friends, Sirius had managed to talk to Krys in a civil way. They had broken up for good, and were able to be good friends.

All four of the girls had opened up to those boys. Of course, James still annoyed Lily to no end, but it was being able to speak to them civilly that made it worth while. Lily smiled as she thought of them, but James Potter always stuck out of them all.

"What?" Lily whispered. She could have just sworn she heard mumbling. It was actually quite scary sounding. It was not one of her roommates. Actually it was not even a female voice. Lily stood up, cautiously. She _knew _that she had heard the voice.

"Who's there?" Lily moaned into the darkness. She slid open her hangings as quietly as possible, not that it mattered because some one else had awoken.

"Lils?" Brittney said, loudly as she threw back her hangings. She yawned loudly, making it impossible for Lily to hear the soft, sadistic voice. "What are you doing awake?" Lily could hear Alyssa getting up, and Alaina's hushed moaning. Lily threw her fingers to her lips quieting the girls.

"Listen," Was all Lily said as she stalked, catlike the room. Lily knew her friends probably thought she was crazy.

_"Sleep..."_ The voice whispered, and the all of the girls jumped.

"What was that?" Alaina yelled, jumping out of bed and standing between Alyssa. Lily was surprised to see that Alaina already had her wand on her.

_"Sleep...Forever...Dream..Bleed..."_ Lily shivered at the cold voice. It was unlike anything she had ever heard before. _"Die!"_ That was all too much for the four girls' nerves.

They all sprinted down into the common room. Alaina ran up the boys' staircase to go get their new self appointed heros. In less then two minutes, James, Remus, Sirius, and a shaking Peter were all downstairs.

"Oh Remus!" Alyssa cried and she grabbed the front of his night shirt. "They were going to kill us!" Peter stumbled into a chair, and the other three boys' eyes darkened. Remus wrapped his arms tightly around Alyssa.

"What?" James shouted angrily. He had his wand out and was pointing it randomly around the room. Sirius walked forward and grabbed a hold of Alaina's arms.

"Who, Alaina," Sirius said, with dark determination. "What happened?" Alaina just pointed up towards the girls dorm.

"In there, she said, trembling.


	13. Three Heros

**Chapter 13**

James instructed Peter and Remus to stay downstairs with the girls. Remus tightened his hold on Alyssa and nodded at him. James and Sirius proceeded up the girls' staircase, with Alaina right behind them. Though she was nervous about entering the room from which the voice had been, she was determined not to see the two boys come to any harm.

"Lainy," Sirius whispered as the three of them walked up the stairs. "Maybe you should stay downstairs..." Alaina shook her head and grasped Sirius' elbow, tightly.

"No, I want to help," Alaina whispered, though her fearful shaking gave her away. "That was probably the most frightening thing I ever heard...," she whispered, as her eyes looked down at the floor. Sirius looked down at her with concern in his eyes. He hesitantly went to drape his arm around her shoulders, but did not. Alaina was disappointed.

"Don't worry, Alaina," James whispered as he pushed open the door to the girls' dormitory. "I am sure we will find out what ever it was that you girls heard." Alaina nodded and slipped into her room after Sirius.

However James was wrong. James, Sirius, and even Remus came up at one point and they had all searched through the room twice. They had looked everywhere, under the beds, and in the bathroom. Sirius had even looked through Alaina's dresser, but she was not sure if he was actually looking for the cause of the voice.

They had eventually given up, and trudged back down into the common room, looking very defeated. Currently, Brittney was sitting in front of the fireplace, her arms wrapped around herself. Lily had herself in an armchair and was rubbing her forehead. Peter was fast asleep in an armchair, his mouth hanging open delicately. Remus was leaning against the wall, with his arm wrapped around Alyssa's shoulders. Sirius and Alaina were sitting on the couch that was directly in front of the fireplace, while James stood by the window, gazing out into the cool, misty night.

"We're not imagining things, Potter!" Lily snarled, when he brought up the possibility. It had been two hours since the girls had heard the bodiless voice in their room, and the eight of them had stayed up discussing possibilities.

"Lily, how do you explain it then?" James growled, obviously he and Lily both were getting agitated with one another. "You are telling me that there was just some _random _voice that said it wanted to kill you?" Lily scowled, but before she could answer, Brittney did.

"She wasn't the only one who heard the voice, Potter!" Brittney said, as she stood up. James sat down on the arm of Lily's chair. "We all did! And none of us said that it wanted to kill _us _directly. It just told us to die! Not tell me you would not be frightened if a bloody voice told you to die!"

"Look, Lily," James whispered in his softest voice, completely ignoring Brittney's comment. She growled and returned to her spot in front of the fire. Lily relaxed as James put his hands on her shoulders, which left her

feeling slightly tingly. "There is nothing up there anymore, I swear it. Even if there ever was. Its almost four in the morning. Lets all go back to bed, and talk about this tomorrow."

Remus and Sirius both glared as James. Remus did not move from his spot with Alyssa, and Alaina could tell that he would not dare leave the lovely girl alone and unarmed. Alaina almost panicked when she felt Sirius' warmth grudgingly leave her side.

"Oh no, you don't!" Alaina snarled. She grabbed Sirius' arms and tugged him back down next to her. She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and snuggled into his chest as though he was the only thing keeping her alive. Sirius grinned like Christmas had come early. "You can not leave me down here alone. If you think I am going back upstairs with that - that thing! You have another thing coming, Sirius Black!" Sirius wrapped his arms around her shoulders and shrugged apologetically at James. Alaina sighed into his chest and felt safe as she heard his heart beating rhythmically under his ribs. James looked at Lily, his hazel eyes wide.

"Do you want me to stay down here with you, Lils?" James whispered. Lily looked up at him from under her long eyelashes. She nodded her head gently and James let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the floor in front of her chair. Lily hesitated but slid down next to him.

"So are we going to sleep out here?" Remus asked, and though none of the girls could see it, the boys were grinning at their fortunate luck. Though none wanted to admit it, they were defiantly glad that their princesses had sent their newfound princes to their rescue.

"Yes," The four girls said harmoniously. The boys grinned at each other once again.

No words were said as the four girls and the three boys stayed in the common room. Remus had conjured up blankets and thrown them to each person. Brittney had conjured a pillow and laid her head down to rest. Sirius had leaned into the arm of his chair and pulled Alaina to him tightly, a blanket across their laps. Remus and Alyssa slid down the wall, their arms entwined around each other.

"_Nox_," James sighed softly, as he draped a blanket over himself and Lily. "Good-night, lovelys."

"_Sleep..._"

"BLOODY HELL!"


	14. Planning To Plan

**Chapter 14**

"All right," James sighed. He was pacing up and down the common room. His heart was at the moment racing nonstop. "I think something is going after the girls..." James ran his fingers through his messy black hair.

"Well," Lily said, with a slight smile on her lips. "At least now you believe us." James rolled his eyes at his love interest but continued his pacing.

The boys had really taken to heart the fact that they had not quite believed the girls when they told them about the voice. Sirius had been the one that had yelled and had started aiming curses around the room, breaking several objects and hitting Peter. Brittney had relit the fire, casting light over the common room once more. The whispering abruptly stopped. Alaina took a few minutes to calm the fuming Sirius down, while Remus and James explored every nook and cranny of the common room. At one point, Remus had thought he found blood in the corner of the room, but it ended up just being red ink.

"Yes, yes," James muttered. "I am sorry, about that, Lils. However, I think the best course of action is to go straight to Dumbledore." Brittney rolled her eyes at James.

"Of course it would be smart to go to Dumbledore James, but think about it! We would defiantly get caught wandering around after-hours. And I know that the four of you are the great and wonderful Marauders, but I really do not want to get expelled from school my last year." Brittney stated in a rush.

"Who said anything about us getting caught?" James said with one of his first realistic grins of the evening. "First of all, it 4:30, hardly any of the teachers and prefects are up at this hour. Secondly, you underestimate us Marauders." The four girls rolled their eyes at the men. "Marauder meeting!" The four boys rushed to the farthest corner in the room. Whilst they were making plans, the girls started talking.

"Do you really think it is coming after us?" Lily asked, her eyes wide. "I do not know if it was just because the boys were here, by why if it is really after us, why won't it kill us?" Brittney smiled grimly at Lily.

"You are making it sound like you actually want it to come and kill us Lils!" Brittney said, sounding slightly surprised.

"Yeah, as far as I care that thing, whatever it is, can stay as far away from us as possible," Alyssa said, a faraway look in her eyes. "It was so cold sounding!"

"Like...a dementor almost..." Alaina added, the three girls stopped and stared at her in shock.

"Lainy," Lily said, kindly. "Dementors can't talk. Thank god." Alaina waved her hand in the air, a thoughtful look on her face.

"I know that Lily," she whispered, her eyes focused on the boys' backs. "But if they could talk, I bet that is exactly what they would sound like. Girls, think about how cold that voice was...it just send chills all the way to my bones."

"Maybe it was just the fact that it was trying to kill us?" Brittney said, a very serious look on her face, but Alaina just shook her head.

"No," she whispered. "I mean, well yes. But I don't just think it was just some random attack. I think it was after us for a reason..." Lily looked absolutely shocked and leaned forward in her seat.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, her voice shaking.

"Think about it, Lily," Alaina whispered, her eyes cloudy. "Voldemort killed your parents, Lyssa's uncle, and tried to kill Brittney's sister...and then Casey..." At this Alaina started to tear up. She never really liked talking about Casey. He would have been fifteen this year. The three girls never really found out what had happened to him, but when he had died both Alaina and her other brother Jesse had been present.

She started to cry gently and Lily wrapped her arms tightly around her shoulders. The four girls shared a loving group hug, just as the four Marauders ventured over to them.

"Uh...you girls didn't miss us that much did you?" James said with a pompous grin. Lily glared at James with anger. Had she really thought James had matured over the past month? Now she knew she was proven wrong.

"Shut up, Potter," Although these words were expected to come from Lily, one of the other girls, or maybe even Remus, they did not. They came from the one and only Sirius Black. He stepped forward and pulled Alaina from the throng of girls and pulled her to his chest. As soon as she felt the contact she started to sob greatly, and clutched at his chest. Obviously, the activities of the night had finally gotten to her. Sirius turned to James with pleading eyes. "Prongs, you will have to go without me. Take Peter and Brittney instead. I am going to stay here with Alaina." James nodded his head, and turned to the rest of them.

"Ok, girls," James said in a strong voice. It was usually the one he saved for when he was lecturing students younger than him. "Me, Lily, Peter, and Brittney are going to go see Dumbledore. I have an Invisiblity cloak, and it will only fit four. Alaina and Alyssa are going to stay here with Sirius and Remus." The girls nodded and Lily stepped up to James. Anger stilled lined her face.

"Alright, lets go, Potter." Lily snarled, and stepped towards the portrait hole. James groaned and he, Peter, and Brittney followed him.

As soon as the four were gone, Remus walked towards Alyssa. Her dark blond hair was glowing in the firelight, and she was facing the cloudy window. When she sensed his presence, she sighed, deeply.

"Whats going to happen to us?" She whispered quietly, her eyes not at all showing the happiness that was usually acquired there. "I mean look," she waved towards Sirius and Alaina,

"is this what is going to happen to us all?" Remus sighed and grabbed Alyssa's arm, gently. He pulled her as far away from their two friends as possible.

"I need to talk to you." Remus said, feeling slightly needy and daring.


	15. Romance in the Common Room

**Chapter 15**

"What?" Alyssa asked her crush tugged her into the farthest corner of the common room. From where the two of them were standing, it was impossible to see the hugging Sirius and Alaina. Alyssa was defiantly nervous about what Remus could have in store for her. "What's wrong, Rem-," Alyssa was cut off by Remus grabbing her and tugging her into a kiss.

Alyssa could have died happily right then and there. Remus's hands had grabbed her by her forearms and was holding her tightly against him. Not that Alyssa minded any, she just put her hands gently on his shoulders and kissed him back. After several minutes, Remus pulled away, much to Alyssa's disappointment.

"I am sorry, Lyssa." Remus muttered as he backed away. Alyssa automatically took a step forward, as she missed his warmth. "I should not have done that. It was just that, with all that has happened, I was just thinking what could have happened if whatever the hell that thing was had gotten you, or hurt you...or even killed you." Remus stuttered as he stated this and Alyssa took yet another step forward. "I don't know what I would have done if you had not known that I like you." Alyssa walked forward and planted her lips firmly against his own lips.

Remus staggered in shock, but quickly regained control of himself. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and pulled her to him. Alyssa trembled against his arms and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. She was surprised by how strong he was and how good he smelled. Alyssa just loved the feeling she had when she was in his arms.

When they finally broke apart, which was very reluctantly for both of them, Remus and Alyssa were both out of breath, but they both had smiles on their faces that could probably light up an entire continent.

"Well?" Alyssa smirked, and Remus leaned his forehead against hers gently. "What was it that you wanted to talk to me about, Remus?" Remus mocked surprise.

"I never did say that I wanted to talk to you did I?" Remus said with a grin, and Alyssa swatted him gently on the arm.

"Oh yes you did," Alyssa whispered and she gave him an Eskimo kiss. "Right before you dragged me off into this corner to snog me, you said that you wanted to talk to me about something." Remus grasped both of her hands in his.

"Ah yes," Remus said, thoughtfully. "I now remember. I didn't exactly want to talk to you...I wanted to ask you a question..." Alyssa thought that her heart might pound its way out of her chest.

"Yes?" Alyssa asked, her stomach fluttering.

"Alyssa Carmen Phoenix," Remus whispered, slowly, drawing out the moment for when he would ask the question. "Will you go out with me?"

Alyssa had been waiting for that question for an insanely long time. She squealed and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. Remus stumbled backwards from her sudden weight, but regained himself quickly. Alyssa planted kisses gently on his face, and Remus let out a joyous laugh.

"I will take that as a yes?" Remus asked, with the biggest grin yet. Alyssa nodded vigorously.

"Could you expect any different answer from me?" She asked. Alyssa unraveled her arms from his neck and laced her fingers with his.

Sirius was exhausted. He had been up half the night with the frightened girls. Just when he had thought he had thought he was going to get some rest, the bodiless voice had struck again. Sirius was defiantly more angry than

scared. Angry that the voice had caused restlessness within the girls, and angry that this bloody voice had caused Sirius to lose _yet _another night of sleep.

Yet, as though irritating as this night had been, it was all worth it for that one brief moment when he thought he and Alaina were going to fall asleep together. He remembered seeing the look of absolute panic in her eyes when he had been close to leaving her, and Sirius knew then and there what had been inside of him all along.

He loved the girl.

Sure she was dating that absolute prat, Chambers, but all people made mistakes right? Surely, one day she would break up with Chambers and date Sirius, right? Sirius groaned deeply.

Maybe not all of his dreams were supposed to come true.

"Sirius?" He nearly jumped when the girl in his arms looked up at him weakly. "Are you ok?" Alaina had stopped crying around the time Alyssa and Remus disappeared.

"Yeah," Sirius whispered, and he pulled her closer to him. "Just thinking about the bloody voice. What the hell does it want with you?" Alaina just shrugged and rested her head gently on his shoulder.

"Lets not talk about that now, Sirius," Alaina whispered gently. "Lets talk about something else." Sirius nodded his head and gently stroked her hair.

"What about Jake?"


	16. Dumbledore Arrives

**Chapter 16**

Albus Dumbledore was being awfully quiet. He was being far more quieter than James thought was normal for a man who often had many thoughts running through his brain. He, Peter, Lily, and Brittney had arrived at his office at five am, and now it was almost six. All four had taken turns in telling Dumbledore what had happened over the course of the evening.

James had been awfully frightened when Alaina had run into the boys' room early that morning and begged the boys for help. At first, James' mind had jumped to the worst, and he had thought that Lily had been hurt. When he went downstairs and gladly found that she was alive and well, he was extremely happy.

"Do you believe us, professor?" Lily asked tentatively after several minutes of Dumbledore being silent, drumming the tips of his fingers gently together.

"Yes," Dumbledore said after thinking for several seconds. "I do believe what you speak of us is the truth. However, I feel I must inspect the room also before the morning light wakes other students. So therefore, we must do so quickly." James nodded his head quickly and stood up. The four of them followed Dumbledore who was walking swiftly towards the common room. What they saw when the opened the portrait door shocked all them.

It was worse than James could ever imagine.

Well, worse in an embarrassing kind of way.

Remus and Alyssa were in a far corner of the room, holding hands and speaking in sweet, light tones to one another. They were both unaware of the obvious tense mood between Alaina and Sirius. Sirius was standing in front of her, his arms crossed tightly across his chest. Alaina was still sitting on the couch, but looked poised to spring up. They

were glaring at each other, menacingly.

"I am terribly sorry if I am interrupting anything," Dumbledore said, sounding amused. Remus and Alyssa ran from their corner, and Alaina jumped up. "However, after tonight's doings, I feel that all other activities must stop so I may search your room. Lily, if you please?" Lily nodded her head and lead the way up the stairs. James was very tempted to follow her but Dumbledore just shook his head, distinctly. Dumbledore left the common room, and James and Peter rushed towards Sirius.

"What is going on with you two?" James snarled. Alaina just shot Sirius a glare and walked towards Brittney and Alyssa. Sirius growled and refused to answer. Remus hurried over.

"What did Dumbledore say?" Remus asked, his voice sounding ragged.

"Not much," James whispered. "Just that he believes us. He wanted to inspect the girls' room himself." Remus nodded his head gently, as though he had not been expecting anymore news than that. Sirius, angry as he was already, was a different story.

"What?" He growled, anger etched in every syllable of his words. "How can he not have said anything else? Dumbledore has to know what is causing this!" James had thought the exact same thing, but had been much more sensible about it.

"Dumbledore does not know everything, Padfoot," Remus said, with a scowl. "He may be a genius, but that does not mean he knows every aspect of the Magical world. More than likely, he never will."

"Then what was the point of going to him, then?" Sirius snarled, his bright eyes flaring. James was now seriously wondering what had happened between him and Alaina that had made him so angry. James grabbed his arm tightly.

"What did she say, Padfoot?" James whispered urgently. Remus' eyes widened, and he slowly started to put two and two together. "What happened?" Sirius pulled his arm out of James' grasp. "Nothing, absolutely nothing." Sirius snarled. "Thats the problem." James was tempted to sock him across the face if that would come him down, however James highly doubted that would help.

Sirius turned slowly around and looked at the three girls in the corner. He had a pained expression on his face as he watched Alyssa and Brittney try to coax the information out of her as well.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang and Lily came flying down the staircase, her eyes wide. She had a look of genuine fear on her face. James rushed forward and grasped her hands.

"Someone go get Madam Pomfrey! Now!"


	17. More Horror

**Chapter 17**

"What's wrong?" James asked Lily, who was deathly pale. Alyssa and Alaina had already left to go and retrieve Madam Pomfrey, the school healer. Both Sirius and Remus were extremely uncomfortable about the two girls going away by themselves.

"Is it Dumbledore?" Brittney asked, her face showed evident worry. Lily shook her head roughly, her hands covered her face.

"No! Its Naida!" Lily moaned. "The sixth year! One of her roommates came out screaming that Naida was fast asleep. Oh, she was covered in blood!" Lily sobbed, and James wrapped his arms tightly around her shoulders.

"Its okay, Lils'," James muttered, though he looked unconvinced. "Lyssa and Alaina went to get Madam Pomfrey. Naida will be alright."

"Are you talking about Naida Kinni? My ex-girlfriend?" Sirius asked, with his eyes wide. Naida had been the only girlfriend that had broken up with Sirius instead of the other way around. Two years ago, Sirius had caught

Naida making out with Chambers in a closet on the fourth floor. Though, he had to admit, it was not as painful as he thought it would have been. It however, made him seriously dislike Jake Chambers.

"Yes, she is the only Nadia in the school," Remus muttered, though not unkindly in any way.

The portrait suddenly burst open and Madam Pomfrey came in bustling in with Professor McGonagall right behind her. "Where are they?" Pomfrey asked, sweating slightly. Alaina, who had just came in with Alyssa, led the way up the stairs. Sirius felt the sudden urge to grab her around the waist and pulled her to him, however Sirius

resisted the urge. Alyssa walked over to Remus and grasped his hand tightly. Sirius pondered these new signs of affection between the two of them.

"What's going on?" Alyssa asked as she clutched Remus' arm. Remus and Peter relayed the information that they knew to her.

The common room was almost silent. Even though several students had awoken up and trudged down the stairs, it was as still as a summer night. James was holding Lily to his as chest as she continued to sob. Even when she did stop, neither of them felt the need to release another. Remus and Alyssa were sitting on a window seat, farther away from company. He had his arm draped over Alyssa's shoulder and she was leaning onto his chest. Brittney and Peter were sitting side by side with her hand gently on his knee. At first, Peter had turned pink but relaxed and had gently laid a hand on hers.

Sirius was standing in front of the fireplace. Over the mantle was a large mirror, which showed nearly every aspect of the crimson common room. Sirius was shocked at his appearance. His normally tan skin was extremely

pale, and his shiny, smooth black hair was lank and unkept. Through the mirror, Sirius was able to see the worried little boy that had wanted to escape all night long.

Instantly, the curly haired girl stepped out from the girls' staircase, looking almost as pale as Sirius. Pomfrey, McGonagall, and Dumbledore followed her. They were levitating a strecther in between them. Pomfrey and Dumbledore left, leaving McGonagall behind. She turned to the students in the common room.

"As many of you have more than likely heard, there has been an attack inside our tower. In twenty minutes, the headboy and girl will escort you down to the Great Hall, where you will be staying whilst we clear this mess up. Please, awaken any stragglers and get dressed." With those words, McGonagall left.

So that was how the day commenced. The four boys and the four girls separated for only five minutes, and they rushed to prepare for the day. Then they meet back downstairs, and helped Lily and James escort the Gryffindors to the Great Hall. Sirius greatly appreciated that he had never had to do this job permanently. It was hard keeping all of the annoying first years from running off in their frightened state. It was quite a hassle.

After the Gryffindors arrived in the Great Hall, the were soon meet up with the other three houses, who were all obviously confused. So it was in there hours following in the Great Hall that many things happened, that made the previous night seem even worse.


	18. Great Hall Holding

**Chapter 18**

The first things that had happened were Wyatt and Christopher found their sister. The cornered her in the Great Hall and bombarded Alyssa with questions and hugs. Remus was looking on at the scene, looking highly amused.

"Guys, I am fine!" Alyssa snarled for what felt like the seventeenth time. Wyatt had his arms wrapped around her shoulders and Christopher had one arm wrapped around his waist, whilst the other arm was dangling dangerously close to his wand. "Remus was with me the _entire_ time, alright!"

"Yes," Wyatt said as he released his sister. Alyssa was able to breath a little more easily with her younger brother's

death clutch. "I owe you one, Remus." Wyatt shook Remus' hand, and he had a large pompous grin on his face. Remus blushed awkwardly and Alyssa finally had enough. She pointed her wand at Christopher who backed away, and casually walked towards Remus.

"Wyatt, Chris," Alyssa whispered dangerously. The boys jumped back a step, and Remus chuckled at their shock. "I am going over with my friends, and I promise my boyfriend will be with me the whole time." Remus winced as she pulled him towards the rest of their gang.

"All right!" Christopher called. "You two be -," and the at the same time, he and Wyatt both shouted "BOYFRIEND?"

Remus was surprised that Alyssa started to giggle, and she slid her hand into his, casually. His heart started to thump violently in his chest. He really had not gotten used to _Alyssa and Remus_. Though, Remus knew with all of his heart that this was bloody wonderful. At least it would be until she found out what he really was.

Remus had never once known Alyssa to be prejudicial or judgmental. She had always been kind to him and his friends, even if the four of them were being annoying prats. However, being judgmental towards a monster was a different thing. Remus would never be able to blame his sweet Alyssa.

Remus and Alyssa joined their six friends who were seated at the far end of the Gryffindor table, near the door. Brittney and Peter were whispering to each other softly, much to Remus' surprise. However, Remus greatly thought that Peter deserved to have a girl that cared for him. James and Lily were sitting across from each other, and were being silent which was a new thing for both of them. Weak smiles randomly passed between the red haired girl and messy raven haired boy. Sirius and Alaina were a different story. Remus did not know what the two of them had

argued about, but obviously it wasn't good. Sirius was sitting next to James, and Alaina was sitting next to Lily. They were not sitting next to each other, and looked as though they had choose those seating arrangements purposely.

"Ok, what is going on with you two?" James said with a lopsided grin to Remus. He rolled his eyes at his overbearing friend. "Are you two going out?" Sirius looked up at Remus through the fringe of his bangs. Remus

nodded his head gently. Alaina let out a squeal. She leapt onto Alyssa and pulled her into a hug.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Brittney asked with a grin. "I thought we were your friends?" Alyssa just laughed the wondrous laugh that Remus was addicted to.

"It was so hectic last night!" Alyssa cried with indigently. "We were all worried, and neither of us thought something this trivial was worrisome compared to what has been happening!" Remus did not think his new found relationship with the light haired girl was trivial, yet it had been true that they had discussed when to tell their friends.

"We should have noticed!" Peter said with a grin that shone at his friends. "You guys were all over each other last night!" Remus and Alyssa both blushed red.

"Were not," They muttered and their friends just laughed at them. "Yeah, yeah!" Remus said with a grin. "Laugh it up, you blokes!"

The time they had in the next hour or so seemed so joyous compared to the terrible night they had. They laughed

more heartfully then Remus had thought to be possible. Remus could distinctly hear James and Sirius planning on pranking Snape. Also, to Remus' shock, Alyssa and Alaina were busy planning on how to prank the unsuspecting Angela Barron. "I can not believe you, Alyssa!" Remus cried, with mock strictness. "How dare you!" Alyssa rolled her eyes, and nudged him gently.

"I am only following in your footsteps, dearest!" Alyssa stated with an innocent grin. Remus laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

Of course, the good mood was ruined as several people came over. First, of course, was Jake Chambers. Sirius glared at his pumpkin juice the entire time, as though imagining that Jake would suddenly jump in and drown. Remus was glad that this was highly unlikely as Jake faked concern over his girlfriend.

"I was rather worried, of course, Alaina," Jake said with a pompous air about him as he rested his hands on her shoulders. "As soon as I heard, I was about to go and find you, but I had to follow orders." Remus and James rolled their eyes, and Sirius was shaking with anger. Alaina snuck a peak and Sirius and grinned.

"Aw, honey," Alaina said and she spun around to face Jake. "Its alright. Don't worry, my friends kept me safe." Remus knew that Jake had not been worried about her safety, but he puffed out his chest and smiled.

"Good," Jake said and he smiled. "Just wonderful, honey." He turned to leave, but Alaina grabbed him and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Sirius' goblet of pumpkin juice exploded in anger. Brittney quickly mended it and sent him a glare.

After Jake left, Alaina turned back around to Alyssa and acted as though nothing had happened. Remus gave Sirius a

look that clearly said that he needed to keep his cool. Sirius was growling under his breath.

"That was a little evil of you," Remus overheard Alyssa muttering to Alaina. She just growled and leaned forward

towards Alyssa.

"He deserved it," Alaina said, louder than Remus thought was necessary. "After what he said to me last night-," Lily

cut her off with a glare. 

"What did happen between the two of you?" Lily asked, with her eyebrows raised. Remus saw Alaina open her mouth to tell them, but she shut it when she realized Remus was listening.

"Later then," Alaina whispered with an apologetic smile towards Remus. "I would tell you Remus, but I think thats his job." The tension later died out, but not for long. Snape walked over to the Gryffindor table, flanked by several of his friends. They included the Lestrange brothers, Angela Barron, Regulus and Bellatrix Black. Sirius and James slowly stood up, their wands already in his hand. Remus had casually reached his hand into his pocket where his wand lay.

"Well, well, well." Snape muttered with a glare.

Remus really did not like this one bit.


	19. Looking For Trouble

**Chapter 19**

"_Well, well, well_," James mocked in a high pitched voice. Lily really disliked where this was heading. Lily knew fairly well that if this got out of hand, she would not be able to stop the Marauders fighting the Slytherins. Even Remus and Peter looked ready to go 'jinx crazy.'

"If it isn't Snivellus and all of his little cronies!" Sirius growled, but Lily noticed his attention was pointed at his brother, not on Snape. "Don't worry Snapey, I am sure all of you little friends will take good care of you." Sirius said in a high pitched, sing-song voice.

"Black," Snape snarled with an evil grimace. "You may think that I need cronies to jinx you all the way to hell, but I have faced you alone on many occasions, and I have beaten you. It is you, Sirius Black, that is the one who has to worry about protection." Sirius' eyes flared in anger. The girls quickly pulled out their wands.

There were not any teachers in the Great Hall. They were all searching the castle, and had left Lily and James in charge. Lily felt that it would defiantly not be a part of her duty to protect the students if she was forced into a fight with the Slytherins.

Several students who had been pacing the Great Hall, or talking to their friends, suddenly stopped. They watched the scene before them with such intensity, that Lily swore their eyeballs would pop out of their head.

'Bloody hell!' Lily swore in her head, as she looked at the unraveling fight before her. Barron and Bellatrix had turned towards the girls, smirks on their pretty faces. 'Like we do not see this every day.'

"Hello, ladies," Bellatrix said with a sneer. She stepped in front of Lily, blocking the boys from her view. Brittney jumped from her seat and pointed her wand straight at Bellatrix's head.

"What do you want Bellatrix?" Brittney growled. Lily could not help but grin at Brittney's behavior. She had always been overly protective of her friends, and she had gotten them out of quite a few rough spots.

"Nothing much," Bellatrix sneered, with a smirk on her face. "Just wondering how the mudblood and her friends are doing." At that time, about five different jinxes hit Bellatrix.

Brittney, being the closest, had thrown a terrible Babbling Curse at her. Bellatrix had stumbled with her words, but was still not able to throw a defensive jinx out. Not that any of Lily's friends gave Bellatrix any time to anyway. Alaina had hit Bellatrix with a body-bind curse, which caused Bellatrix to fall over on to her side in a very uncomfortable postion. Alyssa, who grew quite mad every time someone called Lily a mudblood, hit her with a Furnunculus Curse. Bellatrix's eyes had grown quite wide when boils popped up all over her face. James became

especially evil, had thrown a knee-reversing hex at Bellatrix. The spell itself was quite self-explanatory. Sirius, with so much family hatred inside him, cast the well known Bat Bogey hex on her.

So in the middle of the Great Hall, lay Bellatrix Black. Unable to move, she lay there as the bat-like creatures attacked her face full of boils. Angela shrieked for her friend, and tried to fend the bats off. The Slytherin boys all growled with rage and tackled James and Sirius to the ground.

Remus and Peter seemed to think that it was time to come to their friends' aide and sent jinxes towards the Lestrange brothers. They howled with rage and ran towards the other two Marauders.

Before Rodolphus could reach Remus, Alyssa sent a trip jinx toward him, that made him fall flat on his face. Rabastan turned his rage onto the unsuspecting girl, but her boyfriend leaped in front of her, his wand pointed directly into Rabastan's face.

"If you even _think _of touching Alyssa," Remus snarled, his brown eyes a glow with fury. Lily was

frightened to see him this angry, and with one look at Alyssa, Lily could tell she was too. "I will hurt you so badly, that you will not be able to walk until next Tuesday!"

Sirius and his brother were wrestling on the ground. At one point in their lives, there must have been a time that this brotherly act would be considered a joke. However, on this day, it was far from that. Alaina attempted to

push the two boys apart, but gave up when Sirius shoved her out of the way to stop Regulus Black from pounding on her, too.

James and Snape, on the other hand, were both on their feet. They were throwing so many jinxes at each other that it was hard to see which spell came from who. Several of the watching students were hit, as the two enemies circled. Lily rushed forward to break it up, but there was no need.

"ENOUGH!" Lily gulped as she looked towards the origin of the voice. Professor Dumbledore was standing in the open doorway, with much fury coursing through his eyes.

Sirius and Regulus broke apart and stepped as far away as possible from one another. Regulus was sporting a heavy nosebleed, and Sirius had escaped with what looked like a cracked rib, as he was holding his side awkwardly. James and Snape unwillingly stopped the fighting and stood with their respected comrades. Dumbledore walked forward with anger in his eyes.

"Which one of you started this madness?" Dumbledore said in a forcefully calm voice. "Who?" Lily looked down at her feet, with much guilt coursing through her. If only she had not been born a Muggle-born, than this fight would not have broken out.

"We did, sir." James and Sirius said at the same time. Lily's eyes widened at the sight of the two boys. They had their heads held high, and walked with dignity towards Dumbledore. The headmaster looked at Sirius' side with concern in his eyes. He sighed heavily.

"All right boys," Dumbledore whispered. "You know what this means. Detention." The two boys nodded, and were looking Dumbledore straight in the eye. Lily could not help but be proud of James and Sirius as they took what they were doing extremely seriously.

Alaina stepped forward and stood next to James. Dumbledore looked surprised to see her there. "I helped," Alaina said, as she rested her hand on James' shoulder. "It wasn't just them. I fought, too." Dumbledore shook his head gently and groaned.

"Very well, Miss. Riley. You will serve detention, too." Lily shook her head gently and covered her eyes.

Bloody hell.


	20. Nightime Talking

**Chapter 20**

"I can not believe you did that, Alaina!" Lily gasped as she and her two friends got ready for bed. Around five o'clock that afternoon, the headmaster had deemed it safe to go back to their dormitories. Of course the four

boys had checked on the girls several times already, and they had only been up in their dorm for an hour. Brittney had run downstairs to quickly grab her bag.

"Why not?" Alaina asked with her eyebrow raised as Brittney walked in. The door swung shut on its own accord behind her, and Brittney sat down on her bed, with her legs crossed. "What else was I supposed to do? Let James and Sirius take all the blame! You guys all know full and well that I helped, too!" Alyssa was smirking at Alaina, her eyes glowing. She was relaxing on her bed, her head resting against the headboard.

"Well, we helped, too," Brittney muttered as she opened her bag and dug around inside it. "But come on, Ally, how many times have the two of them had detention? I am quite sure that they would have been perfectly fine

not having company." Alaina rolled her eyes and changed into her pajamas, which consisted of black boxer shorts and a black tank top.

Brittney finally found the book she was looking for and settled on her bed to read it. Lily waited patiently for Alaina to finish so she could complete her interrogation. When Alaina finally sat on her bed, Lily pounced.

"Look, Alaina," Lily said, frustrated. She tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear. "Whatever you are trying to do its not working." Alaina's eyebrows furrowed, and she picked up the brush on her bedside table and started brushing her hair. Alyssa and Brittney were now watching the unfolding scene with great anticipation.

"What are you talking about, Lils'?" Alaina asked with a grin, as she twirled her hair. Her three friends grinned. It was something Alaina always did when she was lying. "I am not trying to do anything! I have absolutely no idea -," Lily rolled her eyes and cut Alaina off.

"You are such a bad liar!" Lily said, and Alaina blushed. She had never been able to lie to her friends once they had figured out that bad habit of hers. Brittney set down her book, and grinned lazily at Alaina. Alyssa was also smirking at the unsuspecting victim.

"I am not!" Alaina said as she twirled her hair roughly around her index finger. The other three girls laughed, and Alaina blushed a dark pink.

"Oh come on, Lainy!" Alyssa said with a grin. She leaned forward until she was at the foot of her bed. "All of us noticed!" Alaina finally dropped her brush onto her bed and stood. She paced around the room, looking down at her feet.

"Well?" Brittney said with a slight grin towards Lily. "You still have not answered Lily's question, 'Laina." Alaina turned towards the three girls and shifted her head to the side.

"I am not trying anything," Alaina said, defensively. The other three girls just laughed at their friend.

"Oh, please!" Lily sighed, and stood next to Alaina. She was standing with her arms crossed and her curly hair kept falling into her face. Alaina swiped it away angrily. "Before we went to bed last night, you told us that you were going to break up with Jake. Then you and Sirius get into a fight, and you snog Jake in the Great Hall, even though you want to end your relationship. But, when Sirius gets in trouble, you jump to his aide! Alaina, what is going on?" Alaina groaned and collapsed next to Alyssa.

"Its nothing," Alaina muttered and Alyssa put her hand on her shoulder. "We just got angry at each other last night."

"Really?" Brittney asked with a lot of sarcasm. "I really did not notice. I think you and Sirius need to make that clearer." Alaina smiled softly and sighed deeply.

"All right," Alaina groaned and laid down on Alyssa's bed. "Sirius brought up Jake last night. He just asked me a bunch of questions about our relationship, and I got sick of all of them. So I asked Sirius about all of those relationships he had with all of his past girlfriends. We ended up arguing about why Sirius would never be a suitable boyfriend because he always treats girls terribly." Lily clapped her hand to her mouth.

"You didn't!" Alyssa exclaimed as she looked down at Alaina with worry.

"I thought you liked Sirius?" Brittney asked with her eyebrows raised. Alaina sat up and shook her head roughly.

"I do! Oh, I still do. Its just that he was being such a prat last night!" Alaina groaned. "After I told him that he would make a horrible boyfriend, he proceeded to accuse me of treason."

"Treason?" Lily asked, seriously puzzled. "He accused you of _treason_?" Alaina just laughed softly and nodded her head.

"He said I was betraying the Gryffindor Quidditch team by dating the Ravenclaw Captain." Alaina smirked slightly. "Its an understandable accusation, after all. But, not one that I need coming from someone I considered a close friend."

"That is Sirius Black for you," Brittney said with a grin. "Boys always think about Quidditch before anything else." Lily and Alaina laughed and nodded their heads violently.

"Remus does not," Alyssa muttered softly. A blush came to her cheeks as she realized what she said. Lily, Brittney, and Alaina rounded on her.

"What happened?" Alaina said as she jumped onto the bed next to Alyssa. She giggled and leaned onto her hands and glanced excitedly around the room.

"He's so sweet!" Alyssa cried with a large grin on her face. The girls laughed and knelt around Alyssa expectantly.

"Thats not answering Alaina's question, Lyssa!" Brittney said, smirking. "The question was what happened, not what Remus is like!" Alyssa blushed and turned her head away towards the corner of the room.

"I don't know if Remus wants me to tell you," Alyssa whispered, and Alaina nodded understandingly.

"Of course, Lyssa," Alaina whispered as she got up from the bed. "Its yours and Remus' descion whether you want to tell us about your intimate relationship," Alyssa blushed heavily.

After this conversation, the girls got prepared to go to bed. Everyone but Alaina were already laying down in bed, their wands drawn in case the voice decided to return. Alaina said the spell for the lights to go out and shook as she walked to bed. However, she never made it.

Something had blocked her path.


	21. Marauders Appear

**Chapter 21**

"OUCH!" A voice rang out across the darkened dorm as Alaina tumbled to the floor. At first, her heart quickened as she thought that the unnerving voice had gained a body. Then, however, she realized she recognized that sweet voice.

"SIRIUS BLACK!" Alaina yelled from the ground. Brittney quickly recast the spell that turned on the lights. Alaina was laying on her back, sprawled across the ground. Her face was contorted in rage. Then suddenly out of no where, the Marauders appeared.

Peter defiantly looked the most frightened. He had given a squeak when the Invisiblity cloak had been whipped off of his face. His dirty blond hair was disheveled and Peter himself was trembling. Surprisingly to Alaina, Remus looked the most calm. He merely smirked and proceeded to sit next to Alyssa on the bed. She had patted the spot next to her and grabbed his hand. James had been the one who had taken the cloak off, and he was the only one who seemed none fazed about the fact that he was in the girls' dormitory in the middle of the night. Sirius however, was blushing deeply and was leaning over Alaina, with worry in his eyes.

"Are you alright?" Sirius asked, and he held out his hand. Alaina rolled her eyes and grudgingly took it. As soon as she was on her feet, Alaina released his hand quickly as though she had been burned. At first she felt bad at the look of disappointment on Sirius' face, but that quickly disappeared.

"What are you doing here, Sirius?" Alaina muttered as she gazed into the boy's lovely blue eyes. Alaina could not help but get weak in the knees, but she kept her composure. Alaina could feel her heart thumping extremely loudly in her chest.

"I came to say that I am sorry," Sirius whispered and looked at his feet. "Alyssa let us in but you were not here. Then Lily and Brittney came in and then you, so we all hid." Alaina rolled her eyes and strode past to sit on her bed. Sirius also turned so that he could face her.

"You came in here to say that you are sorry, yet when I come in you hide." Alaina said, skeptically. "And if all that you wanted to do was say sorry, why did you bring James, Remus, and Peter? That does not make any sense, Sirius!" Alaina banged her fist down on the bed and groaned.

"We were worried about you girls, too," James added. He was talking to Alaina, however he was actually looking at Lily. "So we decided to come and give Sirius moral support. Not that the Great and Wonderful Sirius Black needs it of course!" James slapped Sirius roughly on the back, a huge smirk on his face. Sirius however, had no reaction. He continued to watch Alaina stony faced.

"Look, Lainy," Alyssa whispered from beside her boyfriend. "I knew that they were in here the entire time. I told them to hide. You and Sirius were both being extremely stubborn today, so I thought that it was about time you heard what the other has to say."

Alaina hung her head in shame. She knew very well that she had acted like a slut, for lack of a better term, that day. She had been planning on dumping Jake that day, but after the fight with Sirius, the only thing she was worried about was making him extremely jealous. Alaina figured that snogging Jake in front of Sirius would be one of the best things she could do to make Sirius feel that way.

Of course, her plan had backfired as soon as she had executed it. Even right after she had kissed Jake the way she had, she had felt completely atrocious. Just one look at Sirius' face made her feel terrible about the mistake she had made.

"Please don't be mad at me," Alyssa pleaded. Alaina jumped at the sound in her voice. Alyssa actually thought she was mad at her? The thought was completely laughable!

"I am not mad at you, Lyssa." Alaina said and she passed Sirius to hug Alyssa tightly. "I could never be mad at you." Alaina heard Sirius groan behind her. She spun around and found herself rather closer to him than she would have liked. Sirius had walked right over to her.

"Glad that makes one of us," Sirius growled, his eyes filled with fury. Alaina gulped under his scrutinizing stare and felt rather frightened. Sirius seemed to realize her sudden fear and relaxed. He hesitantly rested his hands on her shoulders, but once he did they both sighed in relief. "Alaina, I am so sorry for what I said last night. I really did not mean a word. Will you ever forgive me?" Alaina looked up into those icy blue eyes and found that she defiantly believed the poor bloke.

"I will on one condition," Alaina whispered, and Sirius looked rather anxious. "I will if you forgive me too." Sirius nodded his head furtively and Alaina couldn't help but grin. They hugged briefly, and would have held it longer if echos of '_Aw_," did not sound about around them.

"Drat," Sirius groaned as he released Alaina. She turned a nice shade of pink and bit her lip as their six

friends broke into fits of laughter. "Well, maybe we should go back to bed..." Alaina nodded her head and grinned at him.

"Yes, I believe that is best, Sirius." Alaina whispered. Sirius forcefully dragged the rest of the laughing Marauders out of the dorm. When the girls finally thought that they were safe to go to sleep, the door burst open and Remus came running back in to kiss Alyssa good-night. At the end of their kiss, both Remus and Alyssa were blushing red.

So, once again the lights were dimmed and the four girls rested in their beds. Brittney had once again dimmed the lights, when suddenly Alaina shouted.

"OH MY GOSH!" Alaina was sitting bolt up in her bed, her face blood red. Her friends said words of worry when Alaina stuttered out. "The boys were in here when I changed!"

There was a moment of silence, and then all fours girls doubled over laughing, and drifted to sleep.


	22. Quidditch Practice

**Chapter 22**

Two weeks passed and absolutely nothing exciting happened. Well, of course there was the incident in the detention. When Sirius, James, and Alaina, who were supposed to be cleaning all of the bathrooms in the school, _accidentally _exploded a toilet. Or so they said.

That incident of course gained them another detention.

The voice did not make a reappearance, thankfully. Naida had been in the hospital wing for a week before she was transferred to St. Mungo's. Madam Pomfrey had tried everything within her power to wake Naida up from

her deep sleep, but it all seemed rather impossible. Later, the Hogwarts students found out that Naida had a younger sister who had not attended Hogwarts yet, who was also found the same way as Naida.

James had started working his Quidditch team harder than ever. Everyday after classes, Lily, Brittney, and Peter proceeded down to the Quidditch pitch to watch their friends practice. A small third year boy was the seeker.

Alyssa was the keeper and the only girl on the team, her twin brothers the beaters, and the three Marauders the chasers.

The upcoming game was gong to be first game of the season. It was versus Ravenclaw, and Sirius had never been more determined to win. He and James worked the team harder than ever, until Alyssa finally blew her lid the day before the big game.

"Will you two cut it out!" Alyssa yelled from her postion in front of the hoops. "We get it all right! _Big game, big game!_ Thats all you two ever talk about and its getting bloody annoying. James, we haven't lost a game yet so lets bloody go back inside so we can relax before the game tomorrow!" James and Sirius were both staring at Alyssa with their mouths wide open in shock.

"Hey boys!" Alaina yelled from the stands as Alyssa and Remus flew down to meet their other friends. "Are you guys trying to catch flies? Get down here!" Sirius and James raced each other down the pitch. The seven worn out Quidditch players went into the changing room and got into their school robes.

Sirius, James, Remus, and Alyssa walked up to the stands where the rest of their friends were patiently waiting. Wyatt and Christopher proceeded back up to the castle, where they said they were planning on pranking a Slytherin in their year.

"Those two are growing on me," Sirius said, with fake tear filled eyes. "They are finally learning the trade of pranking. I taught them well..." Alyssa set her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side. "Yet, if had not been for Alyssa that miracle may never have worked." Alyssa nodded her head, silently approving of Sirius' statement.

"So Alaina," James asked with a grin on his face. Alyssa plopped down on Remus' lap, and healthy grin went over both of their faces. "Who are you rooting for tomorrow...your boyfriend or your friends?" Alaina smirked at James.

"Gryffindor, duh!" Alaina said, with happiness in her voice. "Why would I root for anyone else when I got all the people I want right here in my own house?" Sirius's eyes widened with happiness as Alaina said this. James nodded his head, accepting Alaina's answer.

"Good girl," James said and he turned his attention to Lily. "I believe we have head duty today. Would you accompany me my blossom and go out with me?" Alaina watched amused as Lily almost said yes, but then she obviously realized what he had really asked.

"For the last time, no Potter!" Lily snarled and she stood up from between Peter and Alaina. "Why can't you understand that there would be no way in hell I would go out with you! I would rather date Snape!" Sirius and James both gasped as though Lily had said a disgusting swearword.

"TAKE IT BACK!" James and Sirius both shouted desperately to Lily who had started walking back to the castle. Sirius collapsed onto his knees and grasped at the bottom of Alaina's robes.

"Oh, sweet Alaina, make girl take back those putrid words that she shot out of her mouth..." Sirius groaned, and Alaina giggled. She patted Sirius's head gently. "She said that she wanted to date...the Snivellus..." Sirius dropped his voice as he said Snape's unfortunate nickname.

"Come on, you two," Brittney said. She and Remus heaved James towards the castle as he shouted obscenities about the_ two-timing greaseball_. Peter and Alyssa followed swiftly behind, which left Alaina and Sirius quite alone, with Sirius kneeling at her feet.

'Oh no,' Alaina thought desperately as she saw the hungry look in his eye.

"Laina," Sirius whispered. Alaina couldn't help but be mesmerized by his sparkling blue eyes. "I have a proposition to make


	23. Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor

**Chapter 23**

"GO JAMES GO!" Lily shrieked, her red hair flying furiously away from her face as soon as James flew past with the Ravenclaw chaser close behind. James was currently holding the quaffle and twisting and turning through the other players.

"Potter scores!" Lily squealed with enthusiasm as the commentator spoke those words. She was a small first year but had enough out-spoken comments to keep the entire crowd entertained. "Good job, James! Of course, what else can you expect but for Gryffindor to score first? After all they are defiantly the biggest and the strongest-," Lily giggled as the little girl was cut off.

"Nymphadora Tonks!" McGonagall screeched. Lily had lost count the number of times the Transfiguration teacher had said these two words. The purple haired girl scowled at the offending name.

"JUST TONKS!" The little girl squealed, her purple hair quickly turning a flaming red. "I hate my name!" The viewers of the game resumed their watching. Alyssa was looking quite bored down at her end of the pitch. Most of the games commenced this way. James, Sirius, and Remus were quite talented enough to keep the quaffle tucked safely in their own hands. Even if the quaffle slipped and the opposing team caught it, Wyatt and Christopher were more than able to quickly get it back using their beater methods. Brutal beater methods if one asked Lily. Lily looked towards Alaina who was looking paler than normal. Lily knew exactly why, too. Sirius had supposedly cornered her after they had all left the Quidditch Pitch yesterday, and what he had said had been obviously surprising.

"Once again, Gryffindor scores. This time by Lupin. Sixty to zero, Gryffindor," Tonks yawned out to the crowd. She was obviously taking the boring approach to annoy Professor McGonagall. It was working.

"I don't understand this," Brittney whispered to Peter. Lily smirked slightly as she listened in on the conversation, whilst she still kept her eyes on the black haired boy. "Why do guys make this game such a big deal? Of course, Quidditch is the best game on the planet, but seriously!" Peter's eyes widened at Brittney's words and he laughed nervously.

"That's because it is a big deal!" Peter exclaimed as he looked towards Brittney as though she was not from Earth. "Quidditch leads to the essential..." Peter paused. "Get back to me later." The three girls giggled at Peter and he blushed. Lily was defiantly beginning to see why Brittney liked him.

The suddenly, Lily's attention was taken back by the game as James scored again. Lily grinned enormously. "I do not understand how he does it all..." A voice whispered in Lily's ear. She was so focused on James and the game that she did not bother to look and see who it was. "Quidditch Captain. Headboy. Marauder. Stalking you." The voice paused briefly. "Quite cute, isn't he?" Lily just nodded her head and murmured her approval.

Then, she froze. Had she really just spoken her attraction to James Potter out loud? And that voice...it did not sound like the one she normally conversed with in her head. "Alaina!" Lily squealed, as Wyatt hit a bludger towards the Ravenclaw seeker, Drew Barron. "I-I didn't mean, I-I was just-," Alaina just let out a squeal of laughter that suddenly turned into a supporting yell. Matthew Christensen, the Gryffindor seeker, had pulled into a dive. Barron had been thrown of course by Wyatt and had missed the snitch flying past him. Matthew caught it before Barron had even been able to recover from the bludger.

"AND GRYFFINDOR WINS TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY TO ZERO!" Tonks yelled, her hair now a bright pink. "Of course we knew they would!" The Gryffindors were all standing up, their hands thrown up in the air. Lily looked towards Alaina who was slumped in her seat, her hand clenched over her heart.

"I can't believe they won," She whispered, her blue eyes a glow with happiness. "Sirius won." Peter and Brittney laughed greatly, but Lily could not help but frown at Alaina.

"Sirius was not the only one who won!" Peter exclaimed as Brittney gave him a hug. She was very clearly caught up in the joyous moment of the match. Peter immediately stopped laughing and blushed a dark red. However, Brittney failed to notice this and returned to cheering on their friends.

Lily kneeled down next to Alaina who still sitting in shock. "You know, Lainy, you don't have to-," Lily was cut off by Alaina jumping up in horror.

"Sirius!" She screamed. Lily quickly spun around and was indeed frightened by the sight she saw.

Sirius and the rest of the team had started a sort of group hug in the middle of the pitch. They were still high up on their brooms when Jake had hit a bludger towards Sirius, who was facing away from him. When Alaina screamed, Sirius had turned towards her with a look of worry on his face. Unable to see Jake, he had been hit on the back of his head by the offending bludger. Sirius slipped off of the side of his broom and tumbled towards the ground.

The pitch went deadly silent when Sirius hit the hard Quidditch ground. He bounced twice before his body finally came to a stop. Sirius was face down in the grass, and not moving a inch. One look towards her left, Lily was able to decipher that Alaina had already gone racing down the stands to get to Sirius before the crowd reached him. Peter was also tearing after her.

Brittney looked absolutely shocked, her hands were over her mouth. Lily slumped back into her seat, unable to stand any longer. 'Oh god,' Lily thought as tears threatened to spill over her eyes. This was defiantly the worst Quidditch accident that Lily had ever seen. "Is he dead?" Lily voiced the question she had held inside her. Brittney did not make any gesture or say anything. She just passed Lily and followed the crowds footsteps down to the pitch. Lily followed, too, and all she was thinking about was getting to James before he killed Jake. Lily and Brittney pushed past the crowd to get to their friends. Remus and Peter were busy trying to hold back James as he rushed towards Jake, who was being greatly reprimanded by Madam Hooch, the Quidditch referee. Alyssa was standing beside Sirius' immobile body, pale and unmoving.

"No!" Alaina yelled determinedly as Professor McGonagall attempted to wrench her off of Sirius. Alaina had turned Sirius over as soon as she had reached him, and after checking for a pulse, had cast several spells to try and wake him up in her state of turmoil. She had done this until Remus had pulled her wand away before she did damage accidentally. Then, she had started to sob deeply into the man's slowly moving chest.

"Ms. Riley!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed, looking deeply unnerved. "You will be able to see Mr. Black in the hospital wing, and unless you wish him to stay in this position forever, I suggest you get up!" At this point of view, Alaina quickly detached herself from the black haired boy. Lily wrapped her arm tightly around her shoulders as Alaina gave a shaking defeated sigh.

"MR. POTTER!" Madam Hooch shrieked. Lily spun around and witnessed James running towards Jake with his wand out. Obviously, Remus and Peter had not been able to grasp him any longer, and they were both sitting on the ground looking weary. Alyssa knelt beside her boyfriend with worry in her eyes. With a quick flick of her wand, Lily sent a trip jinx towards James. He fell to the ground and his wand scattered a few feet away. James seemed to realize what Lily had done, because he glared back at her with anger. Lily retreated back to the safety of her other friends. She could not explain the sudden feeling she had in her heart. James was mad at _her_?


	24. Sirius' Moment

**Chapter 24**

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Madam Pomfrey yelled, very clearly exasperated. "Only six visitors at a time!"

It was now dark outside, even though it was only six o'clock. The remaining Marauders, the Quidditch team, and the four girls were all crowded around Sirius. He was still unconscious and had a bandage wrapped tightly around his head. His breathing was shallow and he was extremely pale compared to the Sirius Black they were all used to. Madam Pomfrey was standing before all of them, her hands on her hip.

"All right, woman!" Wyatt screeched and he turned to leave. Madam Pomfrey gasped at him. "We are leaving!" Wyatt, Christopher, and the third year Matthew ran out of the Hospital Wing laughing, as Madam Pomfrey chased after them. Lily clucked her tongue at them in a disapproving way.

"Can't you control them?" Lily asked, her eyebrows raised up at Alyssa. "They are your brothers, after all!" Alyssa shut shook her head and smiled softly.

"That is not possible." Alyssa said with a grin from next to Remus. He had his arm draped casually over her shoulder. "Wyatt and Chris have their own minds after all. I would never be able to control any of them." Everyone laughed except James and Alaina who were both standing next to one another, and not moving their eyes away from Sirius.

"I said six visitors!" Madam Pomfrey screeched, looking rather huffy. Lily, Brittney, Alyssa, and Alaina turned to leave so Sirius could be alone with his friends. James, however, stopped her and grabbed Alaina's arm.

"He would want you to be here when he wakes up," James muttered and Alaina looked rather shocked at his comment. "Stay." Alaina looked back towards her friends who nodded their heads gently.

"We will meet you in the Common Room later," Brittney whispered, nodding her head gently. Madam Pomfrey showed the three girls out and then proceeded to her office.

James finally collapsed on the chair next to Sirius. He shoved his face into his hands and his body started to rack with silent sobs. Unsure of what to do, Alaina slid her arms gently around James' and comforted as he cried over his best friend. Peter looked absolutely shocked that the Great and Wonderful James had the ability to show weakness. Remus just sank back into a chair opposite from James and leaned back, hiding the pain in his face.

It was rather obvious that none of the boys had wanted to show how worried they were in front of the girls that they liked. Alaina was not quite sure why they had decided to release the pain and sorrow they felt for Sirius in front of her, but she instantly felt special that three of her best friends felt as unhappy as she did.

James slipped his arms around Alaina's waist, and she knew that if any other guy had done that to her, she would have jumped away for worry of hurting Sirius or Jake's feelings. However, that was not the case with James. The Marauders (excluding Sirius of course) had become like brothers to her.

"Hey, get your hands off of her, mate," A hoarse whisper broke out next to James and Alaina. Upon looking down, they realized that it had been Sirius speaking. His eyes were half-way open, but Alaina could happily see the bright blue beneath the eyelids.

"Oh, Sirius!" Alaina cried and hugged him tightly around the chest. He smiled wearily, and weakly slid his arms tightly around her.

"Thank god you are awake, Padfoot!" James smiled with a grin, and he quickly wiped his tears away. Sirius narrowed his eyes at him, but James just shrugged it off.

"What happened?" Sirius asked as he held Alaina closer to him. "I can not remember anything."

Remus quickly related everything that had happened from when Sirius got hit till recently in the Hospital Wing. At hearing that Jake had hit him with the bludger, Sirius looked prepared to jump out of bed, but Alaina held him down.

"I'll kill the prat for doing this to me!" Sirius snarled, as quickly got closer to being more like his old self and less like the weak man that he had been when he woke up. "How could he bloody do this to me?"

"Because he hates you?" Peter suggested, gently, and Sirius growled. Before anymore words could be exchanged, Madam Pomfrey came rushing in.

"All right, its seven o'clock! Visiting hours are over!" Sirius' mouth dropped and he groaned loudly.

"But I just woke up!" He yelled exasperated and Madam Pomfrey's nostrils flared as she looked at the four healthy students.

"I told you to come and retrieve me when Mr. Black woke up!" Madam Pomfrey scowled and tried pushing Peter out of the Hospital Wing. She was actually doing a fairly good job. Sirius quickly turned to James.

"Tonight. 12 o'clock. Don't be late." Sirius said with a grin. Alaina raised an eyebrow at him and he just squeezed her hand. "You, too. Meet James in the common room. Bring good food." Then as Madam Pomfrey waved her wand threatingly in front of their faces, Alaina turned to leave.

Right before she was gone, however, Sirius was able to shout out, "We have that proposition to talk about!"

"Mr. Black! Do not overexert yourself!"


	25. Sneaking Out

**Chapter 25**

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw the four teenagers enter the common room. She jumped up and ran over to Alaina, who was looking particularly happy.

"Well?" Lily asked, impatiently. James glared at her and hurried past with Remus and Peter. Lily felt as though her heart was torn out of her chest when she didn't get James' cocky hello. Alaina smiled softly and hugged Lily.

"Sirius is just fine." Alaina said with a grin, and Lily felt her heart slow to a normal pace. "He acted just like his old self as soon as he awoke. He wants me to see him later tonight with James." Lily's headgirl instincts immediately kicked in.

"Lainy, you should not go," Lily whispered, and Alaina instantly looked defiant. She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. "You might get caught, and if all this is about that stupid thing Sirius said, then-," Lily was cut off by an angry Alaina.

"That _stupid _thing Sirius said?" Alaina snarled, and Lily immediately felt terrible. Alaina was weighing a lot of her happiness on those few sentences Sirius had spoken at the Quidditch pitch. "You know how much that

meant to me, Lily." Lily opened her mouth to reply, but Alaina cut her off once again. "I am going to go sleep, since I figure I will be up most of the night with James and Sirius anyway." Alaina snarled and stomped off to bed without another word.

Lily had now managed to get two of her friends mad at her. _Lovely_.

Remus made his way over to his girlfriend quite happily who was talking to Brittney. In two weeks, Alyssa had accomplished in making Remus feel happier than what felt like years to him. She was so sweet and attentive, that she actually made Remus feel special, unlike the monster he was on the inside.

Remus had not told Alyssa about his malady. He was afraid that this wonderful girl would leave him, disgusted that she had ever kissed a werewolf. Yet, deep down, he knew she would accept him the way he was. Yet, Remus had already ignored his judgement once by asking her out.

"Hey you," Remus whispered as he slid down next to Alyssa. She kissed his cheek softly and grasped his hand tightly. She was still deep in conversation with Brittney about the match. Alyssa did not say a word to Remus for about fifteen minutes, but with her small hand clenched in his hand, Remus was just fine with that.

Brittney yawned and said good-night to her two friends. Remus was slightly glad to see her go and was rewarded when Alyssa turned to him, a smile on her pretty features.

"Wow, long day, huh?" Alyssa said upbeat. Remus could not help but laugh at her joyous behavior. Only she could be this excited at this hour at night, but then he took that back. He was friends with James and Sirius after all.

"Yeah, tough day actually. We almost lost Sirius there for a minute, huh?" Remus grinned down at her as she wrapped her arms tightly around his center.

"At least it was not you, Remus," Alyssa muttered into his chest. Remus's eyes widened at her comment, and he felt his heart start beating ten times faster than what was normal.

"Hey," Remus said and he tilted her head up tenderly. "I am fine and so is Sirius." Alyssa smiled gently and Remus felt his heart throb particularly painfully. "You are so pretty." Remus added as an afterthought. Alyssa blushed and her beautiful chocolate eyes widened.

"You think so?" She muttered and Remus leaned forward, centimeters from her mouth.

"No, Alyssa, I don't think so." Remus whispered and Alyssa withdrew her face, looking slightly hurt. "I _know _so." Before Alyssa could even smile, Remus had captured her dark pink lips with his own.

Love was such a strong feeling.

James climbed down the stairs at a quarter after eleven, with the Marauder's Map in his pocket, and the Invisiblity Cloak tucked under his arm. The common room was surprisingly empty, and he made his way towards a chair. He was supposed to meet Alaina and they proceed down to the kitchens to get Sirius food. Hospital Wing food was quite disgusting, and Sirius defiantly hated it the most. James said the password to the Marauder's Map, so that way Alaina could not tell anyone about it.

James quite quickly got lost in his thoughts about the wondrous creature called Lily Evans. She was so beautiful, so smart, and so fiery! James knew that he loved her, and that he always would. He was determined to make Lily love him just as much, and he knew how too. He was going to take advantage of the moments he had alone with Alaina tonight, and get her to tell him how to make Lily fall in love with him.

"Hey James," Alaina muttered as she snuck into the room. James stood up and smiled his trademark smirk.

"You are late, Alaina Riley." She just rolled her eyes and strolled over to him. She nudged him with her elbow.

"Well your little girlfriend practically blocked the door. She didn't want me to get in trouble, so don't get me caught!" Alaina smiled, and James knew she must have noticed the look of absolute joy that had crossed his face at her words of calling Lily his girlfriend.

"Right you are," James said and he threw the Invisiblity Cloak delicately over their shoulders. "We have to hurry down to the kitchens, otherwise, Sirius will be mad that we are late. He would hate to have to spend less time with you." Katrina immediately blushed, which James was quite pleased to see. This showed James that he did not have to worry about her not liking his best friend.

"You know where the kitchens are?" Alaina whispered as they passed through the portrait hole. The Fat Lady threw out quite a few cuss words at being awoken at that hour. James and Alaina stifled giggles as they rushed down the corridors, attempting to get to the kitchens as fast as they could.

Alaina was absolutely pleased with the Marauder's map. "Do you have any idea how advanced this is?" She asked with a smile. "You managed to map out Hogwarts! I bet Dumbledore would not even be able to!" James grinned his pompous grin.

"Of course he wouldn't. I am much more smarter than our dear headmaster," James whispered and he stated this as though it was a fact. Alaina just rolled her eyes at him.

The two students made their way down to the kitchens unnoticed by anyone. Once they reached the portrait of the fruit bowl, Alaina was once again shocked by James' knowledge of the castle. "Peter found this one

accidentally," James explained as he tickled the pear. "Trust Peter to find the place where they keep the food." Alaina let out a soft laugh.

With food packed in their hands, Alaina and James left the kitchens and proceeded down to the Hospital Wing. They reached there just as soon as the clock rang the midnight bell. As they peered inside, James was quite happy to see no one but Sirius, who looked as though he was fast asleep. Alaina made her way over to him and shook him awake gently.

"Sirius?" She whispered tenderly, and Sirius blinked open his eyes. At first he looked around the Hospital Wing disoriented, but once his eyes fell upon the blue-eyed girl, he smiled.

"Did you bring me food?" Sirius asked immediately, and James just laughed. Alaina glowered at him and placed her hands on her hips.

"I come down here in the middle of the night to see you and all you can ask is if I brought you food?" Alaina said in a mock angry voice. Sirius smirked and slowly sat up. James dumped the food on his bed and Sirius promptly started to devour it. "Yuck," Alaina said with a disgusted face. "And I thought Peter was bad." James and Sirius let out loud cackles.

"Maybe you should try the Hospital Wing food sometime, Lainy," Sirius said as he stuffed warm mashed potatoes into his mouth. "Then you can agree that you would eat this food as fast as you possibly could." Alaina rolled her eyes at Sirius. She sat down in a chair next to his bed and promptly adjusted his pillows. James grinned at her, happy that his friend had found a girl who cared for him as much as he did for her.

The three teenagers sat around his bed, chatting away. James quickly brought the subject around to Lily. "Is she ever going to like me?" James moaned and he slumped back in his chair. "I have tried everything!" Alaina just rolled her eyes at him.

"Lily likes you, James," She whispered with a soft smile. James sat up straight, his eyes showing the eagerness that he was feeling. "She like those walks that she has with you when you guys have head duty, and when its just the two of you. Basically, Lily likes you when you aren't being a pompous prat."

"I am not a pompous prat, am I?" James said as he looked towards Alaina. She gave him a look that clearly said 'Yes, yes you are." James looked towards Sirius who was looking pointly at the ceiling, ignoring James' protests.

It looked like James would have a lot to work on.


	26. The Proposition

**Chapter 26**

Sirius was getting bloody annoyed. Of course, he was mighty glad that Alaina and James had taken the risk of getting caught to bring him delicious food, but he had another reason. He had wanted to talk to Alaina about the 'proposal' that he had brought up the other day. However, whenever Sirius got close to mentioning it, James would steer off topic and start talking about Lily.

James was now currently running a list through Alaina. He was trying to resolve his long known problem of

'Why won't Lily date me?'. Sirius was watching Alaina most intently as she approved or denied James' requests of ideas for becoming Lily's lover.

Sirius knew that the idea he had brought up to Alaina had been a touchy subject. He had expected to be slapped or at least pushed off of the Quidditch bleachers. Sirius had not expected her to squeal and leap into his arms the way she had. Not that he was complaining, he just had not been expecting it. Even though they had both been extremely happy at Sirius' idea, it all was hanging on whether or not Gryffindor won the quidditch game, and of course they did.

"What about if I lavish her with lots and lots and lots and lots of presents? Then do you think Lily with like me?" James asked with much enthusiasm. Alaina groaned in an exasperated fashion.

"For the last time, James, no!" Alaina muttered, anger etched into every syllable. "Lily does not wanted to be lavished upon! Just be yourself!" James opened his mouth to argue again but Sirius cut him off.

"We have something to talk about, don't we Alaina?" Alaina jumped at being addressed by Sirius, but a smile lit up her face.

"I believe we do, Mr. Black," As she turned her full attention to Sirius. He could not help but grin as he saw James inch out of the room, to give them their much needed privacy. Sirius was extremely grateful, but Alaina did not notice, as her eyes were too transfixed on Sirius.

Sirius, who had a complete speech on how he was going to woe Alaina, stuttered. "I - I, well - quidditch, we won, and I -," Alaina laughed and laid a petite finger on Sirius' lips. He knew he was blushing red, which was quite unusual for the almighty woman lover, Sirius Black.

"I know you won," Alaina whispered, with her blue eyes glittering with hope. "I am proud of you, Sirius." Sirius felt his heart flutter. He had not heard those words very often, and came from her they meant the world.

"So when do I get my prize?" Sirius asked cheekily. Alaina just laughed and kissed his cheek gently. She always knew how to get rid of that attitude, as Sirius had once again started stuttering, with his hand clasped over the spot where her lips had touched him.

"Can that hold you over for now?" Alaina whispered, and Sirius' heart dropped. This had not been what they had been talked about on the pitch.

"What do you mean, Lainy?" Sirius asked as he sat up in his bed. Alaina looked extremely solemn and she did not speak. Sirius' stomach turned inside out at her silence. "You did not break up with him did you Alaina? In your dorm and on the pitch you said that you did not want to date him anymore. That you liked me!"

"I was telling the truth, Sirius! I just did not have time to break up with Jake." Alaina muttered. Sirius was having a hard time believing her.

"What could have occupied your time so badly so that you could not even break up with your boyfriend. It takes a total of five minutes, Alaina Riley!" Sirius growled, growing angrier by the second. Alaina's eyes widened at his sudden hostile behavior and she stood up from her seat.

"Well if you did not realize, Sirius Black, you almost died today!" Alaina snarled. "I am so sorry if my thoughts were completely focused on you and not on my boyfriend. But if you prefer, I could rearrange that for you." Sirius obviously felt terrible and grabbed her slender wrist in his hand.

"I am sorry, Lainy," Sirius moaned, and he coaxed her back into her seat. "I did not mean a word of it, trust me. I should be grateful you stayed here with me all day." Alaina collapsed on the edge of his bed instead of her chair.

"It was so scary, Sirius," Alaina muttered as she looked straight ahead instead of at him. "You falling and I could not do anything to stop you." She turned around and faced him, and Sirius could see her bright blue eyes were filling up with tears. "You almost died." Sirius weakly wrapped his arms tightly around the girl and held her close.

They did not speak for the rest of the time they were alone. Words were quite unnecessary. Sirius and Alaina just held each other tightly until James came back and unwillingly broke up their hug.

"Hey, Lainy," James said quite kindly, and Alaina could quite clearly see how Lily would be able to fall in love with him. "Its time to go back. It is two in the morning." Alaina nodded her head solemnly, kissed Sirius' cheek one last time and disappeared under the cloak with James.

"See you around, Padfoot," Whispered the invisible James. Sirius nodded his head and settled back down on his bed.

"See you later, Prongs," Sirius whispered and then he sighed happily as the Hospital Wing door shut. "You too, love."


	27. Not Going To Plan

**Chapter 27**

The next morning, Madam Pomfrey unwillingly let Sirius out of the Hospital wing. He was extremely joyous to finally be able to leave the wretched place. He proceeded down to the Great Hall where he would join his friends for breakfast.

Just outside the Great Oak doors, however, Alaina and Jake were talking. Sirius rubbed his hands together, greedily. 'Great,' Sirius thought with a grin. 'It is about time she broke up with him.' Then, his hopes were shattered.

Alaina kissed Jake and gave him a tight hug. He wandered off down the corridor and Alaina turned towards Sirius and waved towards him. He groaned, and he knew that she still had not broken up with him. Sirius shuffled towards her, going as slow as he could. Alaina hugged him almost as tightly as she had hugged Jake.

She reached out and ran her fingers through his hair, which sent a delicious shiver down his spine. She smiled at him, sweetly. "There is something I want to tell you."

Sirius couldn't take it anymore. Seeing her with Jake was one thing, but having her be so kind to him was the final straw. The anger inside of him snapped like a Sugar Quill. "Listen. You don't need to spell it out. I know what you're going to say, I just saw you and Jake." Alaina's cheeks turned pink. "Quite honestly, I don't want to hear

it. You've made your feelings very clear. I'll deal with it, but it doesn't mean that I like it or want it shoved in my face at every opportunity."

Alaina's face went ghostly white. She nodded slowly; the tears were already streaming down her cheeks. She went over and sat down next to Brittney, who immediately cornered her about what was wrong.

Sirius felt instantly guilty; he hadn't really meant to snap at her like that. He certainly didn't want to drive her to tears. He stood up, intent on trying to apologize, but James cut him off.

"Have you heard?" James asked, sorrow lined in his eyes. Sirius shook his head, obviously it was something important. James groaned and Sirius noticed that he had the day's issue of the Daily Prophet clutched in his hand.

"Nadia's little sister died last night," James whispered gently. Sirius snapped to complete attention. James thrust the Daily Prophet into Sirius' hands. He quickly scanned the article and gathered any important information

that stood out to him. "The way it looks is that whoever sent that voice decided that he did not need her anymore, or just needed less baggage." Sirius saw how someone could take this point of view on the subject, yet he saw it

differently. He of course had been thinking about what had happened to Nadia and sister ever since that night had occurred. Sirius had come up with several conclusions but only one actually made any sense to him.

"I do not think that is the case, Prongs," Sirius muttered under his breath. "I believe that whoever is doing

this is doing it for more of a...ransom, for lack of better term." James raised his eyebrow at Sirius, but took a few seconds to think over what Sirius had said.

"So are you saying that this voice or whatever just wants money?" James asked and Sirius nodded his head. He did this a little too violently that he had to clutch his head. "Padfoot, that does not make any sense. What would a disembodied voice want with money?" Sirius rolled his eyes at James.

"I thought we had already established the fact that the voice was not _disembodied_. It was just in _another _form! I am saying that whoever is behind this whole voice is the one who wants the ransom, or as you said, money."

"Money?" Sirius and James turned around to see both Remus and Peter walking towards them. It had been Remus who had spoken, and he looked dreadfully tired. They had just wobbled down the stairs in the Great Hall, and it looked as though Peter still had his slippers on. "Are you telling me that this incorporeal voice wants money?" Sirius was getting very easily frustrated.

"Not incorporeal voice! Voice in another form!" Sirius growled, impatiently and Remus just smirked at Sirius.

"You don't even know what incorporeal means, do you?" Remus asked with a smile that could rival Snivellus'. Sirius blushed, even though he did not know why.

"All right, I don't! You caught me!" Sirius said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. The boys laughed and proceeded to walk outside, breakfast forgotten, even by Peter. Sirius' mind was completely focused on Alaina, however.

"So I believe it is time we cause mischief, my men," James said with his trademark deviltry smirk. "We have been at school for two months and we still have not set off a prank worth remembering!" Sirius' mind quickly faded away from Alaina and started to whirl with ideas on how and who to prank.

The four Marauders settled themselves underneath a great oak tree, where a awesome prank had once occurred. Sirius suddenly grinned. "I have an idea, my men. And its not just going to be against Snivellus."


	28. The Prank

**Chapter 28**: _Part 1_

That Monday morning, their plan was set into motion. The Marauders had spent the whole afternoon the previous day, concocting potions and researching in the library. Of course, the girls realized that it was rather odd for the Marauders to spend so much time _studying _as they called it, but the girls waved it off.

That was a heinous mistake.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter mad their way down the Great Staircase on their way to breakfast the next morning, full of high hopes. Both James and Sirius were carrying a vial filled with a powdered solution, which they

would sprinkle over Snape and Jake's breakfast. This would cause quite a comedic reaction, at least to the four mischievous boys.

"Do you remember the magic word?" Remus asked as they walked swiftly down the staircase. The other three boys nodded their heads vigorously.

"Of course we do, Moony," Peter whispered, as they crossed into the Great Hall. Remus greeted his girlfriend with a swift kiss, and they plopped themselves down away from the girls, as so they would not discourage their plans. Alyssa sent Remus a questioning look, but he returned it with a impish look. Alyssa rolled her eyes at him, fully intent upon asking him what was up later.

"All right," Sirius whispered, leaning closer to the other Marauders. "We need to find a way to pour this powder on their plates. Remus, you use the invisiblity cloak to get Jake. He is a bloody fool and would not realize

that you were there. However, we need a distraction of some kind to get Snape." Alyssa, who had been walking to talk to Remus, sat next to Sirius.

"I want in." Alyssa insisted, surprising the four boys. "I do not know what you are planning or what you are doing but I want in. I have not been able to prank anyone all year and I am starting to feel a little worn out." The Marauders' jaws dropped as they watched Alyssa who made no sign what so ever that she was joking or going to berate them.

"Are you serious, love?" Remus asked, his eyes wide. Alyssa gave him a look that clearly said that she most defiantly was not joking.

The Marauders told her their plan, and once again expecting to be reprimanded, were shocked when she burst into laughter. "You guys are bloody geniuses! Where did you come up with that idea?" Sirius raised his hand meekly.

"That was my bloody genius idea, thank you very much!" Sirius said with a grin that could light up London. Alyssa rolled her eyes at him and reached her hand out.

"Give me the vial. I will take care of ol' Snivellus. You guys get Jake." Alyssa said determined. Sirius looked slightly unwillingly, but handed the vial over eventually.

"Now watch me work _my _magic!" Alyssa said with a grin. She jumped up and started to stride towards the Slytherin table, but Remus cut her off.

"Be careful, ok?" Remus whispered, and he looked slightly guilty. Alyssa smiled at him and kissed the corner of his lips.

"I will be perfectly fine, Remus." Alyssa said with a grin. "It should be Snape that you are worried about." Remus hugged her tightly and resumed his postion of giving Jake his powder. Alyssa summoned up all her will and strength and made her way towards Snape.

Alyssa took a seat next to Snape, sending Angela toppling over her seat in the process. As Angela retook her seat, angrily insulting Gryffindors and their pride, Alyssa sent a swift, sweet smile towards Snape, that made him look absolutely repelled.

"Hello Severus," Alyssa whispered. _You old slimeball, _she thought in her head. "How are you this lovely day?"_ Not stinking about the place as usual, must be having a bad day_.

Snape looked revolted at being addressed like this and scurried as far away from Alyssa as humanly possible without being in his neighbor's lap. "What do you want, Phoenix?" He snarled, showing his complete yellow teeth. Alyssa tried hard not to recoil in disgust.

"I just wanted to see how you were today." Alyssa said, her arm slowly slinking around to his plate, the vial stuck up her sleeve. "It seemed like you were lonely." _No wonder, with a smile like that, dogs must howl in your presence._

"He is not lonely!" Angela snarled, and when Alyssa saw that Snape had looked towards her, she quickly emptied the vial. "He has Slytherins as friends, why would he ever be lonely?" Alyssa resisted the urge to roll her eyes. With a friend like Angela, she was surprised Snape had not thrown her out the window.

"Well, if thats the case, then I will just leave," Alyssa said with a quirky smile. However, as she went to stand, Snape grabbed her arm. Alyssa distinctly heard the clatter of the Marauders jumping up to her rescue.

_Boys_.

"Going to return to that boyfriend of yours?" Snape sneered, his grasp tight. Alyssa twisted her arm quickly out of his grasp and drew her wand.

"As a matter of fact, I am." Alyssa said with a truthful smile. "I am sorry if you have a problem with that." Snape leered at her, his yellow teeth showing more, if that was possible.

"I suggest you start watching his disappearances, unless of course you believe he lost _yet another_ grandmother." Alyssa was about to question Snape's unfounded accusations, but the Marauders ruined her moment.

"Get your hands off of her!" Remus growled, even though Alyssa had already gotten out of his grip. Before anything worse could happen she grabbed Remus' hand and dragged him back towards the Gryffindor table. She had never seen Remus this angry, and she never wanted to again. The other three boys followed her reluctantly.

"I think you need to take a shower, Lyssa," Sirius said, and he was standing quite a distance away from her. "You will have grease on you for days, I bet you." Alyssa rolled her eyes and gasped in surprise as Remus pulled her into a tight hug.

"I knew something bad was going to happen," Remus growled and Alyssa instinctually rested her head on his rising chest. "I am never letting you go near that bloody greaseball again." Alyssa could not help but giggle and she stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

"At least I got the job done, did you boys?" Alyssa said with a smirk that could most easily rival her brothers. They all gasped at her.

"You did it?" James stuttered, his eyes widened in surprise. "But how?" Alyssa flipped her hair over her shoulder and smiled a brilliantly beautiful smile.

"No man can resist my charm," Alyssa stated and once again the boys were in shock. Remus nuzzled his nose into her hair and smiled.

"You got that right, love," Remus muttered, but Sirius was shaking his head furiously in denial to these facts.

"To a man, they may not be able to resist," Sirius said, explaining why he disagreed. "But Snivellus is not a human. As far as I am concerned, no one is quite sure what he is yet." Peter laughed at this, but the rest of them rolled their eyes. That joke was so _old. _

"So in Defense and we shall see how this turns out!" James said as they made their way to the first class of the day. They were going to wait till Defense because that was the only class the four Marauders had together that day.

"Yes, yes we shall," Sirius said, an evil glint in his eyes.

After lunch, the Marauders and the four girls made their way to their Defense Against the Dark Arts class. The Marauders and Alyssa had been impatient all morning. They could not wait to see the reactions from Jake and Snape when they realized what had occurred!

As the professor gave the normal instructions, Sirius was itching with restlessness. It seemed as though the professor was droning on much longer than usual. Sirius peered over at Snape and Chambers who were sitting next to one another. It was shocking that none of the others Slytherins had gotten into N.E.W.T. Defense, but only Snape had been smart enough to get that far. So because Snape could not be seen fraternizing with Gryffindors (not that

they would want to talk to Mr. I-don't-own-a-bottle-of-shampoo-because-I-like-the-way-the-grease-drips-onto-my-abnormally-large-nose anyway.), he always worked with Chambers.

Sirius jumped for joy when Professor Whatever-His-Name-Is finally stepped down from his postion in front of the class. Sirius could not help but beaming with contempt joy at James. They both gave the girls and Remus and Peter farewell salutes and walked towards Snape and Chambers.

"Hello Snivellus!" James said brightly, as though he was greeting Lily. "How are you today? Not too greasy I hope?" Before Snape could even open his mouth, Chambers snarled at both him.

"Why don't you guys go and get some lives," He snarled, with hatred in his eyes. "I have had enough of this shit that you two try to pull." James and Sirius both smirked the largest yet. THIS WAS IT! Sirius opened his mouth to shout out the retort, (also the magic word!), but Alaina cut him off first.

"Aw, look! Snivellus has found himself a _girlfriend_!" Alyssa and the Marauders all gawked opened-mouth at Alaina who shrugged.

"What?" She shrugged. "What did I say?" Alyssa tackled Alaina into a hug, which to her seemed like one for no apparent reason, whilst Sirius and James smirked at each other happily.

Then the fun began. Snape and Jake both opened their mouths to say a nice, gentle retort, however a large belch replaced each and every word. To say that they both looked completely shocked was an understatement. Both Snape and Jake shoved their hands over their mouths to stop the unending belches.

Although both Sirius and James had taunts ready for this moment, they were both doubled over with laughter to be able to have the strength to speak at all. Lily, Brittney, and Alaina were trying their hardest to hold in laughter, but were failing miserably and joined their friends.

However, though several people thought this was the end, a strong stench filled the room. Each time one of the two boys moved they would accidentally break wind, making the whole room smell terribly bad. It was so horrible, that the professor was forced to evacuate the classroom, all except Snape and Jake, of course, and run to Madam Pomfrey to try and find an antidote.

Once the professor was gone, Lily rounded on her the laughing Marauders. "It was you boys wasn't it?" Though Lily meant this to come out entirely reprimanding, it did not work since she could not wipe her smile off of her face.

"Of course it was!" Sirius exclaimed as he clutched his side, with tears running down his face from laughter. "Who else would come up with an amazing trick like this? Wait till they have to go to the bathroom!" A look of disgust crossed the girls' faces, but they continued to the common room.

"You boys are so horrible," Brittney said with a smile. "I can not believe you boys did that!"

"You think that is the end?" James said with a smirk. "Think again! Of course we need entertainment at dinner!"

"Oh no," Lily said, getting herself together. She pinned James against the wall in one swift movement, shocking all six of their friends. James' eyes widened in shock, but he soon smirked flirtatiously.

"Wow Lils'," James said, that smirk plastered to his face. Lily pulled away, disgusted, but the damage had already been done. "You could have at least waited until we were alone. But however..." James leaned down to give Lily a kiss but she grabbed the first thing to block him...and it was Peter.

Everyone froze and stared at James and Peter as their lips touched. James drew away in complete revolt, but Peter stood there shocked. Brittney and Lily burst into a fit of laughter, identical to the one they had just experienced in class. Alaina chuckled nervously, waiting for James to explode with anger. Alyssa looked absolutely startled and Sirius and Remus both looked as though they had walked in on their mothers showering and had seen something completely indecent.

"Oh, no!" Peter cried, shock etched into every line of his round face. "My first kiss was with...a guy!" Peter staggered back away from the group and the fled down the hallway towards the nearest bathroom. James was standing with his mouth wide open, still not being able comprehend what had just occurred.

The six students stood there waiting for a reaction from James for what felt like forever. When it finally came, it came in a large package.

"DISGUSTING!" He screamed, making several Ravenclaw first years stare at him in shock. "TOOTHBRUSH!" James darted in front of his friends and ran as fast as he could towards the common room, leaving everyone else behind.

"That was..." Sirius started to speak, but Remus finished his sentence for him.

"Odd." The four girls nodded their heads in agreement, but Lily was smirking, deviously.

"Looks like James won't be pranking Jake and Snape after all," To the girls shock, Remus and Sirius nodded their heads in agreement. However, Brittney, Lily, and Alaina did not see Alyssa smirking in the background.

"Quite right you are," Sirius said in a voice that most certainly meant trouble. "We, the Marauders, most certainly will not be pranking Snape _and _Jake." Lily seemed satisfied and turned around to walk back to the common room. She was muttering something about head duties and finding miscreants.

"I think we need to go over the final details of the prank, Moony," Sirius muttered, whilst he watched Alaina out of the corner of his eye. Remus nodded his head and grasped Alyssa's tiny hand in his own. "Want to go out to the courtyard? After all, James will be keeping Lily busy while they are on patrol." Remus once again nodded his approval and turned towards Alaina and Brittney.

"Do you guys want to help?" Remus asked, and Sirius winced.

As much as he would have liked Alaina and Brittney to help the sores were still opened and they still hurt. He missed Alaina, already. He had not spoken to her directly since the conversation before breakfast the day before, and he was not sure when he was going to talk to her again.

Sirius was starting to think this was going to be relatively soon, when Brittney opened her mouth to accept Remus' proposal but Alaina cut her off.

"No," Alaina said, with a terrible look on her face. It was a cross between being extremely unhappy and irritated. "No, you've made your plan quite clear. I'll deal with it, but don't expect me to shove myself into your mischievous doings." Alaina left Sirius gaping at her, quite shocked at what she had just said. It was almost identical to what he had said yesterday morning.

Alaina turned around and walked away swiftly, tears leaking out of her eyes. Brittney threw Sirius a glare, and then turned to follow her. Remus looked slightly startled about what had just happened. Sirius had not told any of the Marauders about the exchange between Alaina and him or the reason why he had wanted to prank Jason so badly.

"What was that all about?" Remus asked Sirius, nervously. Sirius was extremely pale, and his blue eyes wide in shock. Of all the things he had expected Alaina to say, it was not that.

"That, love," Alyssa said, with an angry glint in her eyes. "Would be Alaina telling Sirius off for what he did to her yesterday." Sirius could not help but be infuriated by this comment. What _he _did to _her_?

"Well excuse me for getting a little worked up when the girl that I like decides that she still wants to go out with her boyfriend even after she tells me she likes me!" Contrary to his belief of what was going to happen, Alyssa just rolled her eyes and released Remus' hand.

"Don't try to pull that, Sirius," Alyssa snarled, her eyes lighting up with fury. "You know perfectly well what happened. Alaina broke up with Jake, went to go tell you and you just yell at her and tell her that you do not want to be with her. That you would _deal _with it. Thats what you said, isn't it, Sirius?"

Alyssa's glare immediately softened when she looked deep at Sirius' face. He was ghostly pale, and his mouth was hanging wide open. Alaina had broken up with Jake? So, when she had come to tell him...oh god.

_"Listen. You don't need to spell it out. I know what you're going to say, I just saw you and Jake. Quite honestly, I don't want to hear it. You've made your feelings very clear. I'll deal with it, but it doesn't mean that I like it or want it shoved in my face at every opportunity."_

"But she kissed him!" Sirius snarled as he remembered the words he had said to her. "I saw her kiss him!" Alyssa rolled her eyes and touched his shoulder in a gentle, reassuring way.

"Remember when you broke up with Krystal, and she asked for one last kiss? Thats exactly what Alaina was doing. Giving Jake his last kiss." Sirius felt terrible, he made to go talk to Alaina, but Alyssa grabbed his arm, as he started to make his way towards the marble staircase.

"I understand you want to talk to her, Sirius," Alyssa said, in a calm relaxing voice. "But we need to figure out the fine points of this prank, whilst Lily has James occupied." Sirius nodded his head and made his way towards the courtyard.

"You picked a good one, Remus. A good one." Both Remus and Alyssa blushed at his words.

At dinner that evening, the four Marauders took their spots away from the girls once again. James and Peter had not spoken about their 'kiss'. They were sitting as far away as possible from each other, as so others would not get the wrong idea. Peter had a dark green tinge to his face and James was as stiff as a board.

"Are you men ready for the best prank that this school has and will ever see?" Alyssa said as she sat between James and Peter, helping them with their problem. James sighed with relief, and Peter's face turned from green to white. "Will you two knock it off, it was an accident!" Alyssa said, scolding the two boys. "Its not like James meant to kiss you on purpose, Peter." James made a scoffing noise.

"I do not believe that it was I who kissed Wormtail, I meant to kiss Lily...but he was just there." James said, a look of horror crossing onto his face as he replayed the unfortunate kiss in his head.

"Right," Alyssa said, and with a roll of her eyes, she changed the subject. "We need to get this prank underway. When will the charm be set off?" Remus looked down at his watch.

"Its 6:50. It will go off in ten minutes." Remus replied casually as if he was remarking on the weather. Sirius was highly distracted, as he was staring down the table at Alaina. James waved a hand in front of his face, but

it did not seem to faze Sirius one bit. However, a quick punch to the arm from none other than James Potter made Sirius jump in the air in pain.

"What was that for?" Sirius growled, rubbing his now sore arm. Alyssa rolled her eyes at Sirius and James slapped his hand over his eyes.

"Look, I promise you that you can talk to Alaina tonight, but can we _please _focus on the task at hand? Finishing this prank against Snape?" James whispered in an almost begging tone. Sirius nodded his head and spun towards the rest of his friends.

For the remaining ten minutes, the Marauders and Alyssa discussed what was to come, each anticipating see the faces of the surrounding students. There would be absolutely no way that any teacher would be able to track the prank back towards the Marauders.

Soon the ten minutes were up and the five students swivelled themselves towards the Slytherin table. It did not look like anything odd was occurring. Snape was casually getting up from the table and heading towards the staff table. The only way someone would even think that there was something wrong was by the look of horror that was etched on Snape's face, obviously showing that he had no control over his actions.

Several students had stopped their eating as the watched the seventh year Slytherin make his way to

Professor McGonagall, and once he was there, he involuntary cleared his throat loud enough that the whole Great Hall cast their eyes upon him.

McGonagall looked down upon Snape with shock in her eyes, but she quickly pulled herself together. "Yes, Mr. Snape?" Snape chuckled slightly, shocking both Professor McGonagall and the rest of the student body. The Marauders and Alyssa were trying their hardest not to laugh. The other three girls rushed over to them.

"What did you do?" Lily snarled to James who just laughed.

"Watch, my dear." James said, causing Lily to recoil in disgust.

"You are being way too formal, dear," Snape continued, the of horror on his face not at all connecting with the words that were coming out of his mouth. "You must call me, Sevie." At this the Marauders could not hold their laughter in any longer. Tears flew out of Sirius' eyes as he banged his fist on the table in laughter.

Professor McGonagall looked as though she was about to faint. Professor Dumbledore's eyes quickly flickered to the Marauders and then back to Snape, having already put two and two together. However, he made no move to stop what was bound to happen, and let a slight smirk come over his lips.

"Mr. Snape," McGonagall said in a shaking tone of voice. "Please return to your seat before I give you a detention." The look on Snape's face clearly showed that sitting down was something that he most dearly wanted to do, but the spell he was under prevented him from doing anything of the sort.

"Only if you will be the one giving the detention, love," Snape said, in a clear flirtatious tone. Sirius and James both dropped to the floor, in their laughter. The rest of the student body could not help but laugh at Snape also, and even a few of the teachers were chuckling. McGonagall looked as though she was about to faint from shock.

"Mr. Snape!" McGonagall exclaimed, in a tone of voice that showed that she was getting angry. "Take your seat this instant or I will make sure that you get a detention with Professor Slughorn cleaning up the entire Potions classroom and office!" Everyone in the Great Hall could tell that Snape was trying his absolute hardest to return to his seat.

"If that is the punishment for spending time with the one I love, then so be it!" Snape said, and he made to leap over the table to get to Professor McGonagall (who had fainted), but Professor Dumbledore cast a freezing charm on the young man.

"Would the following culprits who caused this please stand up." Dumbledore said with a smirk. Remus and Peter both stood up, but were bent over in laughter. James and Sirius, would have stood up, but they were laughing on the floor too hard to be able to move. "I believe that Mr. Potter and Mr. Black also helped with this incident?" Remus took a deep breath and choked out the answer.

"Well, I shall have to think up a good punishment for this one, boys!" Dumbledore said with a smile.


	29. Detention

**Chapter 29**

Their detention was to be served the following evening. Dumbledore had taken them into his office the following evening to speak to them about the mishaps that the Marauders had caused. Alyssa's name was not once mentioned in the proceedings, keeping her out of the trouble the Marauders had gotten in. Sirius never got his chance to talk to Alaina about what had happened, but had already concocted a plan that he would soon put into motion.

The next day, Remus, James, and Sirius were all ecstatic. They thought that the detention they had earned was well worth the look on Snape's face when he professed his love for his Professor. Peter, however, felt very differently.

"Guys," Peter whined for what felt like the hundredth time that day. The four of them were on their way to Charms. "Isn't there any way we can get out of this detention? Maybe we should offer to do a detention every night this week or something..." James spun around and glared at Peter, his anger finally snapping.

"Wormtail!" James shouted. "Last night was well worth the punishment. Stop complaining. Tonight we are going to have a blast!"

That had ended Peter's complaints for the time being. The rest of the day passed quickly, much too quickly for Peter and soon it was dinner time. The Marauder's detention was supposed to be during dinner, and Lily was appalled to see all four boys eating quite calmly, as though they did not have any other place to be.

"What are you four doing here?" Lily snarled. The boys had sat back down next to the girls, as they had since the beginning of the year.

"Eating." James said quickly. "What does it look like?" Eating may not have been the correct term for what James was doing. He was currently shoving as much food as possible down his throat.

"But you were supposed to have detention tonight, weren't you?" Brittney asked with a raised eyebrow. "You know, for the havoc you guys caused yesterday?" James nodded his head, and mashed potatoes flew out of his mouth and hit Remus straight in the face.

"Sorry, Moony," James said, once he had swallowed his food. Remus gently rubbed the potatoes off of his face with a look of distaste. "Our detention is tonight. During dinner, just like we said." Lily opened her mouth to tell him that it was in fact dinnertime, when Dumbledore stood up.

The Great Hall quieted down quickly as he spoke. "After last night's proceedings, I have arranged some entertainment for tonight's dinner. Would Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, and Mr. Pettigrew please join me up here." The girls all gasped as the four boys stood up. They walked proudly and with dignity towards Dumbledore, all except Peter who looked as though he wished he was anywhere else.

"After that most embarrassing display that was placed upon Mr. Snape by these gentlemen," Dumbledore waved a hand towards the four boys. "I think that each one shall stand before you and share one of their secrets."

The Great Hall burst into laughter, and Snape leaned forward with a small smirk. He was watching Remus intently, as though looking for a sign of nervousness, but one did not exist.

"I believe Mr. Pettigrew will go first." Dumbledore said, he shrunk into his seat and put his fingertips together in his trademark movement.

Peter looked absolutely terrified. He did not move from his postion in the midst of the Marauders, but they gave him a slight push and he stumbled to where Dumbledore had been standing a moment before.

"I-I...I got a T on my last Potions assignment!" Peter stuttered weakly. Several of the Slytherins boo-d him. This was not an unusual development, and they were expecting something much more embarrassing. James gave Peter a nudge with his elbow, telling him to go a little bit further.

"Oh all right!" Peter yelled exasperated. "I wet my bed last week, happy?" At first, the Great Hall was extremely silent, but then they burst into fits of laughter. Peter blushed a dark red, and slunk back into the safety of his friends who patted his back reassuringly.

"Mr. Lupin?" Dumbledore asked patiently, a small smile littering his wizened face. Snape was leaning so far in his seat that it looked like he was about to fall off. Remus took a deep breath and took Peter's place. He smiled gently at Alyssa who was grinning up at him.

"Well, believe it or not, Professor Dumbledore walked in on me snogging my girlfriend," Remus said with a smirk. The Great Hall was silent, as many did not know whether to believe him or not. After Dumbledore started to laugh, however, the rest of the students soon joined in.

Alyssa was blushing darkly, and Christopher and Wyatt looked absolutely speechless. Snape looked disappointed, and grumpily sat back in his seat, his arms crossed and his eyes dancing darkly.

"Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore said with a smile. James jumped past Remus, nearly knocking him over to take his place. He cleared his throat and started to talk about a mile a minute.

"When I was a baby I used to suck on my grandma's nose, I fart in my sleep, I love spinach, I go completely insane off of sugar, I picked my nose until I was about twelve, I got beat up by a girl this summer and a

few time before that, oh! And this one time, my dad accidentally locked me outside naked. And it was really cold outside, and well I think you all know very well what happens when a boy is outside in the cold, but if you don't let me explain -,"

"MR. POTTER!" McGonagall shrieked over the laughter of the Great Hall. Lily looked in absolute shock and Brittney was clinging to the table, attempting not to fall over in her laughter. James simply smiled softly and join Remus and Peter.

Sirius, not needing his introduction from Dumbledore stood in front of the Great Hall. His eyes rested upon Alaina for a brief second and he happily saw that she was staring intently at him, but there was a faint amount of hurt in her eyes. Sirius took a deep breath and plunged into the speech that he had memorized by heart, yet it flowed through his lips as though he was coming up with it at the top of his head.

"Professor Dumbledore told me and my three best friend s that we were supposed to stand in front of you all and divulge our biggest embarrassments. I, however, have chosen to tell you all something that has not embarrassed me, but has eaten me alive for quite sometime." Sirius looked towards Dumbledore to ask for permission if what he was saying was appropriate. Dumbledore twitched his head slightly, looking intrigued, and

urged Sirius to continue.

"You see, I made a mistake, and that is what I am embarrassed of." Snape scoffed, but Sirius took no notice. "I made a girl think that I had feelings for believe the opposite. I made Alaina Riley believe that I did not like her. I am sorry." Silence engulfed the Great Hall, but Sirius did not care. His eyes were locked upon Alaina's and he was quite happy to see a smile on her face.

"That was weak!" Snape scowled from the Slytherin table. James made to jump past Sirius, but Dumbledore spoke first, and James seemingly decided that maybe it would not be such a good idea to attack Snape in front of Dumbledore.

"Mr. Snape, why do you say that? Is it weak to have to profess your feelings in front of the whole student body?" Dumbledore said this calmly, with a smile on his face. Snape looked rather shocked at being addressed by Professor Dumbledore and sunk back into his seat. Dumbledore turned to Sirius with a small smile on his wrinkled face. "You and your friends can be seated, Mr. Black."

On their way back to the Gryffindor table, James slapped Sirius on the back and congratulated him on his speech. Sirius' eyes never left Alaina's however and when he reached her, he just cleared his throat and smiled.

"I think we need to talk later," Sirius said and Alaina nodded her head. Sirius slid into the seat next to her, and was shocked to find that she slid her hand in his. Sirius smiled at her, and continued to eat, as the noise level around the Great Hall rose back to its normal level.


	30. Relaxing Winter

**Chapter 30**

December dawned quickly upon the castle. Snow covered the grounds in a thick blanket of icy wonder. Many students could be found outside the castle wrapped in many layers of cloaks and scarves. However, at the moment the Marauders were located inside the common room.

James and Peter were involved in a game of wizarding chess, which James was obviously winning. Lily and Brittney were in the corner of the common room, trying to resolve what gifts they were going to buy for their friends. 'The Lovers', which was what the previous mentioned called them, were snuggling, which was a clear winter tradition. Remus and Alyssa were sitting on the couch, their arms wrapped around each other and whispering to each other. Sirius and Alaina were cuddled up on an armchair, arguing casually about who 'wore the pants in their relationship.'

"I stood in front of the whole school and said that I liked you! Obviously that warrants that I am the one who wears the pants!" Sirius said with a charming smile, Alaina just rolled her eyes.

"Most people already knew you liked me Sirius, so that was not much of a stretch," Alaina whispered with a mischievous grin. Both Alaina and Sirius knew this was not truthful, but neither commented on it.

"I asked you out!" Sirius said with indignation. Alaina laughed and kissed his cheek gently.

"I kissed you first." Alaina said simply, lacing her hand within his. James, who had been listening to their conversation, laughed.

"Lainy, I think kissing Sirius was an understatement. I think we all can agree that it looked as though you wanted to eat his face." James said, and all of their friends laughed at his comment. Without even a blush to her cheeks, Alaina smiled softly.

"Well, he has such a cute face!" Alaina said playfully, grabbing his cheek as though she was his grandmother. He swatted her hand away coltishly and rolled his eyes.

"As much as I love the fact that you and Sirius finally stopped being stubborn and started dating, I would rather appreciate if you did not talk about how cute he is in public, Alaina," Brittney said from her corner, with a smirk.

"But I am cute, Brittney!" Sirius said, with a look of mock horror on his face. "Even you have to admit that I am cute!" Brittney rolled her eyes at Sirius.

"Over my dead body," Brittney said mockingly. She returned back to hers and Lily's conversation that they had been having.

"So what are we going to do tomorrow, Padfoot?" James asked Sirius, but Sirius never got a chance to answer him because James won yet another game against Peter. James started to reset the chess pieces and looked towards Remus and Alyssa. "Will you play against me, Remus?" James said, over-confidently. Remus rolled his eyes and pulled Alyssa closer to him.

"No, I am quite busy at the moment." Remus said with a smirk, and Alyssa laughed. She draped an arm delicately over his waist. "And besides, James, I would wipe the board with your scrawny little playing skills. I need

a challenge." Remus said this completely jokingly, as he was actually terrible at chess. James rolled his eyes and widened his arm, challenging anyone who would dare to play against the 'All Powerful James Potter.'

However, everyone was greatly surprised when Lily strode up and took Peter's vacant seat. "Well, Mr. Potter. I believe that you needed someone to play against?" James smirked and leaned back as Lily took the first move. After several minutes of their playing James repeated his question towards Sirius.

"You never answered me, Sirius. What are we going to do tomorrow?" James asked as his eyes were focused most intently upon the game in front of him, but every once in awhile he would glance up at Lily and a small smile would cover his face.

"Well before you so rudely interrupted me, I was about to ask my girlfriend what she wanted to do!" Sirius said, with a grin. Everyone stopped what they were doing and even Alaina clutched at Sirius as she erupted into giggles. "What? What's so funny?"

"Lets just say that I think we finally decided that it is Alaina who wears the pants," Alyssa said with a smirk, and Sirius finally realized what had happened. He slapped himself on the forehead with his free hand.

"Argh! Of course, the men always make the dates, not the women!" Sirius said, with his hand over his eyes. The four girls in the vicinity rolled their eyes as the Marauders nodded their heads.

Everyone went back to their previous doings. Brittney and Peter were chatting politely on the couch and Remus and Alyssa were left alone to talk softly to one another. Lily and James were looked in a battle of wits, which surprisingly was a tie. This left Sirius and Alaina to talk to one another, undisturbed.

"So, just for my reputation, can we say that I wear the pants? Even though you do, love? I just don't think I would look good in this." Sirius said, fingering the edge of her school skirt. Alaina gave him a mock pleading lip, and pouted her bottom lip.

"Oh Sirius, I want to see you in a skirt though!" Alaina pouted. Sirius smiled and lifted her chin to give her a soft peck on the lips.

"I smell a dare coming on. How about this, I will wear your skirt if we win the House Cup. If not, you have to promise to live with me when we graduate from Hogwarts." Sirius said with a smirk. Alaina nearly choked on her own saliva. Of all the things Sirius could have said, he had said that!

"I, Sirius, I-," Alaina did not have any idea about what she was going to say, but Brittney suddenly walked up to the couple and cut her off.

"Hey, Lainy. I need to talk to you about tomorrow. Its rather important." Alaina stood up from Sirius' tight embrace. She followed Brittney towards the girls' staircase, but at the last second turned around.

"You have a bet, Mr. Black," Alaina said with a smirk. She spun back around and followed Brittney up the stairs. Sirius let a smile cross his face.

For the first time in history, he hoped Gryffindor did not win the House Cup.


	31. Secrets

**Chapter 31**

"What is it, Britt'?" Alaina asked with a worried expression. Brittney was not usually one for secrets, so the fact that she had dragged Alaina all the way up their dormitory was most defiantly worrisome. There was also the fact that Alaina hated being up in that room for longer than she had too. The memory of the wretched voice was implanted in everyone's mind.

Nadia was still under the deep sleeping spell. The medical professionals at St. Mungo's were doing their best to help poor Nadia out from under the spell. Especially after what had happened to Nadia's little sister, everyone was desperate to wake Nadia before the same thing happened to her.

Luckily for the rest of the students, the voice remained unheard. Many pupils thought that voice had only come for Nadia, but Alaina and the rest of her friends knew better. They all suspected that the voice had much more to it then everyone else thought.

They were just hoping that they were not right.

"Brittney!" Alaina exclaimed impatiently. Brittney started and came out of her ravine of thought. She spun around and stood in front of Alaina.

"Jake asked me to go to Hogesmeade with him tomorrow. I know that he is just trying to make you jealous." Brittney said in quite a rush. Alaina just nodded her head encouragingly, as she knew that there was more to what Brittney had to say. "And I said yes."

Alaina placed a hand gently on Brittney's shoulder. "It is okay, Britt'. Really, it is. Me and Jake are more than over. I have Sirius now, and Jake is up for takes. I just don't want you to get hurt. I mean, if he really is just trying to make me jealous, do you really want to take the chance of getting hurt?" Alaina said with a soft smile, and Brittney smiled back. There was a soft creak at the door that signaled that it was being pushed open just a crack. Both Alaina and Brittney rolled their eyes and ignored it. Without even looking, they both knew who it was.

"I am not going with Jake because I like him," Brittney said with a grimace. "This will be more of a test to see if I actually like Peter. If I do, then it will be about time I step up and tell him. It does not like Peter will be asking me out anytime soon. So, if I like him I will." Alaina rolled her eyes at Brittney.

"Are you sure that this is just a plot to get Peter jealous?" Alaina said with a smirk. Brittney grabbed the nearest pillow and swatted her with it. There was a stifled laugh at the doorway, but the girls still ignored it.

"Just like your plan to get back at Sirius?" Brittney said smartly. Alaina blushed sheepishly.

"That was different. Sirius had made me mad." Alaina muttered. "Isn't that right, Sirius?" Both girls turned towards the door. Sirius, who had been crouching outside the door, stood up and waved weakly at his girlfriend and Brittney.

"Drat! How did you know I was there?" Sirius said, as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

"You must be losing your touch, dear. The door creaked." Alaina smirked as her boyfriend pulled at his hair.

"Oh, dammit! I thought you girls did not hear that." Sirius said as he walked over and sat on Alaina's bed. Brittney rolled her eyes.

"Well, Sirius, it was kind of hard to miss." Brittney said with a grimace. "And you are lucky you have such a lenient girlfriend. I would be extremely angry if my boyfriend was eavesdropping on my conversations." Sirius smiled, mischievously.

"Well, I will have to make sure to tell Peter that." Sirius said with a smirk. He ducked as the pillow that Brittney had used to hit Alaina came flying towards his vulnerable head. The pillow flew past him and hit the wall behind Alaina's bed.

"Sirius Black, if you say one word to Peter, you will not be able to walk for as long as I will allow. And trust me, I will keep my word!" Brittney left the room.

Alaina turned towards her boyfriend, who was lounging on her bed, looking quite frightened. Alaina laughed and sat next to his stiff form. She wrapped her arms around his wide waist and settled her cheek on his rapidly rising chest.

"Please tell me that she was kidding. What is she going to do? CASTRATE ME?" Sirius yelled in a horrified voice. Alaina giggled and tightened her grip on his waist.

"Don't worry, Sirius, I won't let mean old Brittney hurt you." Alaina said in a baby-tone voice. Sirius rolled his eyes and covered her hand with his.

"Well, thank you, darling. But I am Sirius Black, and I can take care of myself." Sirius jumped up, dragging Alaina with him, and ran down towards the common room. Everyone was still right where they left them. Lily and James had started up yet another chess game after Lily had beat him. Peter was watching the game with apprehension. Remus and Alyssa were still talking in the exact same postion as before. Brittney had occupied Sirius and Alaina's empty chair.

Sirius ran up Peter and engulfed him a hug. Peter's eyes widened in shock and everyone else stared at them with their eyes wide. Alaina bite her lip in appreshension and Brittney even was looking on, worried.

"Peter, mate! Brittney just told me that she liked you!" Silence surrounded the common room in absolute shock. Peter's jaw dropped and Brittney stood up, fury clouding her eyes

"SIRIUS BLACK!"


	32. Tickle Fight

**Chapter 32**

"SAVE ME!" A high-squealed pitch squeal flew from Sirius' mouth as he ducked behind the couch as a jinx was thrown towards him by the extremely angry Brittney Becard. He peeked his head over the edge and surveyed the room quickly, looking for the angry blonde.

Peter was sitting in a chair, completely oblivious to his surroundings. His mouth was agape in shock of the fact that a beautiful girl like Brittney could like him. Alaina was clutching her side as tears poured down her face in

her hilarity. Sirius scowled as girlfriend did nothing to help him out of his strange predicament. Remus was joining Alaina in her laughter. Alyssa was quite content with rolling her eyes as their extreme behavior.

James, however, being the best friend that he was, was furiously trying to help Sirius. He had already cast two spells at Brittney, which thankfully missed her. James however was at the moment distracted by Lily's yells of why James was a horrible person for jinxing people who had never done anything to him. Yet there was Lily's best friend, hexing Sirius for no particular reason.

"_Tarantallegra_!" Sirius gasped as the spell hit him from behind. In his hasty look around the common room at everyone, he had failed to notice Brittney sneak behind him, causing him to be sent into this awkward dance. Brittney came around and stood in front of him, her hands placed on her hips and a triumphant smirk on her face.

"Well, Mr. Black," Brittney muttered. Though Sirius knew he should have been frightened, he wasn't as he was trying his best just to keep his balance. He grabbed the back of the sofa and tried to hoist himself of the ground but his plan failed miserably. He looked to James for help, but he was still arguing with Lily and did not realize what was going on. Alaina had collapsed to the floor, as she was laughing too hard to stand. Remus, was clutching the arm chair and nearly joined Alaina on the ground. "Have you had enough, yet?" Brittney said as she tapped Sirius'

shoulder gently with her forefinger. Sirius' knees buckled and he fell on his back, with his legs sticking up awkwardly. He felt like a stranded turtle.

From his spot on the ground, he glared up at Brittney, clearly defiant. "Never, Miss. Becard. You will have to torture me till the end of time!" Alyssa walked over and stood next to Brittney, her brown hair was pulled up into an elegant bun.. Sirius could easily tell what Remus saw in the girl, but he had Alaina of course. Sirius hoped that would not change anytime soon.

"What are you going to do to the poor bloke?" Alyssa said, as she ducked one of Sirius' flailing feet. He was extremely thankful that he had not kicked her in the face, as Remus would have killed him, and that would not be good for Sirius in the slightest.

"Uncle." Brittney said with a smirk and Alyssa laughed. Sirius had no idea what 'uncle' was, but if it could make Brittney smirk like that, it defiantly scared him.

"What precisely is this 'uncle?'" Sirius asked in a worried tone. Brittney's smile grew larger if that was even possible. "Is this someone I have to meet?" Remus started laughing harder and Alaina finally stumbled over to them, her bright blue eyes glowing in her happiness.

"Oh, don't do it, Britt'! He's a pureblood. He won't know what uncle is!" Sirius was starting get extremely worried. Whoever this 'uncle' was, it was rather obvious that Alaina was worried that he would hurt Sirius. Sirius felt ecstatic over her concern, but it immediately faded when one of his flyaway legs kicked his girlfriend in the shin.

Alaina fell to the ground, and sent a mock glared at Sirius. He gulped and tried his best to turn over so he could crawl over to his girlfriend without her getting hurt. However, this failed and he moaned. "Are you ok, Alaina? I am so sorry. Its her fault!" Sirius snarled as he pointed at Brittney accusingly. She smiled smugly and waved her wand at him quickly.

"_Rictumsempra_!" Brittney said with a smile. Sirius let out shrieks of bark-like laughs that finally drew the attention of James. However, though James had come to help, he collapsed on his knees in laughter. Sirius was blushing as he realized that is screams sounded way to much like a girl's for him to be comfortable with. He was extremely uncomfortable with his legs still dancing awkwardly and of course the tickling sensations running through his body. He twitched and squirmed on the ground, and his eyes started to water from the peculiar feelings the tickling charm left him in.

Brittney stepped over him and smiled down at Sirius' sweaty face. "Say uncle." She said with a smirk. Sirius was sincerely confused. What did Brittney mean say uncle? Sirius asked this very question, but Alaina was the one who answered him.

"It's a form of mercy, Sirius. If you say uncle, then Brittney will lift the curses off of you. Yet, can you handle saying mercy to a girl?" Alaina sneered and blew a soft kiss at Sirius. He felt that this was one of the highest forms of torture. He, Sirius Black, could not give in to a mere girl! That was like Zeus agreeing to hand down his lightening bolts to a mortal! It was unfathomable!

"Never!" Sirius snarled as he twitched about. With a flick of her wand, Brittney had intensified the strength of both spells. Sirius giggled in such a high pitched voice, he swore that it was only available for dogs to hear. James rolled over in his laughter, and Lily scolded Brittney for the show that she was causing. Alyssa and Alaina were clutching each other in laughter and Remus was smirking comfortingly down at his best friend. Sirius made a mental note to get Remus later, for not helping, when he was the only one capable at standing at the moment.

"Say it, Black." Brittney said with a smirk. "Just say uncle and the torture will all be over. You can go off and snog my best friend, in a corner preferably." Sirius would have rolled his eyes, if the spells were not taking such a hold on his body.

"Nev-never!" Sirius snarled through his laughter and once again, Brittney flicked her wand . The magic level of the spell was too much for Sirius. His laughing stopped and he felt his face grow red. The world around him grew dark and the voices and laughter around him seemed distant. It was getting rather difficult for him to breath and the laughter around him immediately stopped as he let out choking sobs.

"SIRIUS!" Alaina shrieked in absolute horror. Brittney lifted the curses and stepped back, fear etched in her eyes. James and Remus knelt down next to Sirius as his breathing went back to normal. Alaina clutched him around the chest and squeezed him tightly.

"Sirius Black! Don't you ever do that to me again!" Alaina whispered and Sirius grimaced in pain. He put his weight on his elbows and glanced up at Brittney. She looked extremely pale and horrified. Surprisingly, Sirius did not blame her for what had happened.

Alaina let Sirius go for a brief second whilst James and Remus luged him up on the couch. Then, James and Lily went down to the kitchens to go and grab some ice. Alaina plumped up Sirius' pillow in a motherly fashion and grasped his hand tightly. Sirius smiled weakly at his beautiful girlfriend. Tears were at the brim of her eyes and she kissed the knuckles on his callused hand.

"Hey, told you I wouldn't make you be able to walk," Brittney said in a timid voice. It did not suit her at all. And Sirius grinned at her.

"And I learned a very valuable lesson. Never make a girl mad. Especially if she has a wand."


	33. Coming Home For Christmas

**Chapter 33**

The following evening, the eight pupils returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, laden with bags upon bags of food and gifts. Sirius and James had bought at least four bags of Zonko's products each. They were planning on giving them to one another for Christmas. Though, everyone knew that both Sirius and James would use them up as soon as they got home the next day.

Brittney's date with Jake had been a flop. Apparently, all he had spoken of was Quidditch, and ways that he intended to overcome the Marauders. Brittney had left Jake as quickly as possible and joined her friends at Three Broomsticks. Peter seemed especially glad that she had left Jake, but he gave no reason why.

Everyone was going home for Christmas. Sirius would be going home with James, and they also said that they would be making a stop at Remus'. It was going to be the full moon the day after Christmas. Sirius and James were planning on sneaking out of James' house and meeting Remus in a clearing behind his house. None of the girls knew of this plot however, since of course the girls did not know Remus was a werewolf.

Though the three boys invited Peter to come along as well, but Peter had argued several times that he was unable to come. Peter had told the three boys that his parents wanted to take him to the Americas, to meet one of his cousins. Though none of them had ever heard of such a cousin, they believed him.

Alyssa was also going to be traveling. She would be going to Italy to visit friends of the family. The wizards who lived in Rome, still followed a lot of the old ways of the Romans. From what Alyssa had told her friend, she was quite nervous about the old saying 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

At first, Lily had been worried. With Alyssa going to Rome, there was no visiting the Phoenixes during the break, and there was no way she was going to be going home. She thought that she would not be able to do anything for Christmas and would be all alone. However, Alaina had invited Lily to her house for the break. Lily had never stayed at the Rileys', so she was quite nervous.

Brittney was just going home with for Christmas. As per usual, she would be traveling to several family member's houses with her older sister, Alisha. It was nothing out of the ordinary for Brittany, but she would not have any peace and quiet to herself.

That following morning, the majority of Hogwarts was leaving for the holidays. Though the voice had not reappeared, several students were frightened of its mysterious doings. So students carried their knapsacks and bags out to the school carriages, where they would take them down to Hogesmeade station. The girls sat in one carriage while the boys sat in the other. They were planning on sitting separated on the train, and even though this slightly upset Sirius and Remus, they felt they needed the time with their close friends.

So after a quick kisses good-bye and promises to meet their boyfriends on the platform before they went home, Alaina and Alyssa followed Lily and Brittney to a compartment far away from the boys. They settled down in the compartment and Lily breathed a sigh of relief. For some reason, the air just felt so much free-er without James around.

The trip was one of the most relaxing trips Lily had ever had. She was fully happy and calm sitting with her three best friends and not having to worry about the Marauders jumping in on their private conversations. Surprisingly, they left the girls alone and never once appeared in the compartment. The girls strayed away from the

topic of the Marauders and instead stayed focused on other things. They played exploding snap and talked of other students. Lily felt extremely content as the train sped towards London.

As the train slowed to a stop, Lily yawned in the sleepy silence. Brittney was curled up in a ball in the corner and Alyssa had a small speckle of drool coming out of the corner of her mouth. Alaina had her head leaning on the back of the seat, and snores were erupting from her throat. Lily giggled as thought of what Sirius would say if he saw his girlfriend in that postion.

Lily gave her wand a slight flick and a spout of water hit each of her friends. They all woke up sputtering, and Brittney fell flat on her bottom as she slid off of the compartment seat. They all did not seem to know what had occurred but Lily could not stop laughing hysterically.

After Lily's hysterics had died down, and the three girls had finished yelling at her, they gathered their bags and walked slowly through the train. It was rather crowded, and students were shoving others out of the way to get home as quickly as they could. Lily almost fell twice, and both Alaina and Alyssa actually did.

"There's Jesse!" Alaina squealed in delight. Lily watched as a boy with straight brown hair strode forward and pulled Alaina into a tight hug. He was a broad man with dark, mystifying brown eyes. His smiled was absolutly contagious and he was known to be a great man.

"'Ello, sis!" Jesse said as he squeezed his little sister tightly. Ever since Casey had died, Jesse and Alaina had grown closer, though not many thought that was possible. "I hear you girls had quite a scare!" Alyssa swatted him gently on the arm.

"Nope. We handled it just fine, thank you!" Brittney said, with a slight air of mock arrogance. "Not that they helped at all." Lily groaned as she looked over to where Brittney was currently pointing. The Marauders had just gotten off of the train and were heading there way. Much to Lily's surprise, James bypassed her and walked straight to his parents, without a word. Though Lily felt her stomach churn, she chalked it up to not eating enough on the train, not that she was worried.

Worried? Ha! Why would she, Lily Evans, be worried about James Potter not talking to her?

Why?

They arrived at the Riley's house at about eight o'clock. It was not as nearly as grand as the Phoenix's but had a nice, quaint quality to it. It had a country, rustic style to it. The walls and floors of the house were made of polished oak wood, casting a smoky feel to the house. As soon as Lily opened the door, she found herself staring at a a set of stairs, leading up to a vast hallway. To her right, she could clearly see an open space where the kitchen and dining room where located. To her left, was a red carpeted living room, with low burning candles that threw soft dancing lights over the red furniture. Lily felt the extreme need to go throw herself down on the couch and wrap herself up in a blanket to take away her thoughts of James.

"Do you like?" Lily looked up and was surprised to see the handsome boy standing next to her. She nodded her head slowly and turned back towards the living room. She was surprised to feel the blush creep up her cheeks when Jesse spoke to her. She of course had once had a small crush on Jesse when he was still attending Hogwarts, but she had thought she had gotten over it. However, this was obviously not the case.

"Lils!" Alaina said and Lily spun around quickly and saw her stumbling in, carrying both her bag and Lily's. She rushed forward to take her bag from Alaina, but was a little bit more than surprised to see that Jesse had grabbed it first.

"There is no reason why some one as beautiful as you should be doing this kind of manual labor." Jesse whispered and a red tint occupied itself on Jesse's defined cheeks. He smiled shyly at Lily and went up the stairs to what Lily thought more than likely was Alaina's bedroom.

Lily turned slowly towards Alaina, slightly frightened about what she was to see. As she expected, Alaina was smirking at Lily with her hands on her hips. "You like him again, don't you, Lily?" She stated, knowingly. Instead of answering, Lily wandered of into the living to do as she wanted. She plopped herself down on the couch and wrapped her arms tightly around herself, wishing that it was Jesse's arms, instead.

"At least he could have taken my bag, too." Alaina mumbled, and she marched up the stairs, her bag in tow. Lily giggled and stood up off of the couch. She walked over to the book shelf and stared at the framed pictures. Many of them were off a fifteen year old, brown curly haired boy with loving brown eyes. Lily felt tears coming to her eyes as she looked upon the face of Casey Riley, Alaina's dead brother.

One picture caught her eye, and she smiled when she realized the three siblings were all in it together. It looked to be a Muggle barbeque, as there balloons everywhere and the they were eating hot dogs off of a paper plate. All three of them were waving merrily up at Lily. Alaina looked extremely happy snuggled between her younger brother and older brother. Casey was gobbling his hot dog as fast as he could, ketchup dripping down his chin. Jesse had is arm thrown haphazardly around her shoulders, and Lily could not help but envision that it was Lily in Alaina's place. She reached out and touched the cold, dusty glass with her fingertips. She gently touched Jesse's face, and he jumped in his picture, his lovely green eyes growing wide. Alaina and Casey were both smirking at Jesse.

A warm hand enclosed around Lily's and she jumped at the contact. She spun around quickly and saw that Jesse was standing there, a familiar smirk on his face. Jesse laced his callused fingers within Lily's and she loved the feeling of his rough, tan skin against her pale fingers. He leaned forward and pressed his lips close to her ear.

"Dinner's ready." He turned around and walked out of the room, leaving Lily gaping and wanting much more contact than she had just had with Alaina's brother.


	34. Letters By Moonlight

**Chapter 34**

Lily tossed and turned in her bed, quite unable to fall asleep. She was trying her absolute hardest to get to sleep, at the moment she wanted nothing more. Her thoughts were spinning around both Jesse and James. She did not know why she felt so uncomfortable with liking Jesse. She felt as though she needed James' approval to like Jesse, and she knew that should not be the case. She had absolutely no connection or promise to James Potter!

Lily jolted up in her bed when the was a tap on the window. She peered through the darkness and was surprised to see a dark brown owl with a piece of parchment in its beak. Lily leapt out of bed and darted across the room. She pulled open the window and shivered as a cold gust of wind nearly knocked her off of her feet. The owl flew over Lily's head and landed on her dresser with a twitter.

Lily felt anger when she first saw the letter. Her first instincts told her they were from none other than James Potter. However as she stepped forward to retrieve the letter, she realized that the loopy letters were not James'. Lily ripped open the letter with anticipation running through her veins.

_Lily, sorry if I woke you. I just can't stop thinking about you. How are you?_

She giggled softly as she read the letter. The boy really was so sweet. Lily drew a quill out of her bag and scribbled a quick reply on the bottom of the note.

_I am fine. Don't worry, I was already awake. I couldn't sleep. How are you?_

Lily re-attached the scroll to the brown owl's leg. He gave a small hoot and flew out of Lily's still open window. Lily dropped down onto her bed, now wide awake. She now knew at the moment, that she was more than likely not sleeping for the rest of the night.

Ten minutes later the same owl came back with Jesse's reply. Lily unraveled the letter once more and grinned down at his beautifully written words.

_Why couldn't you sleep? What are you thinking about?_

Lily retrieved her quill again, and jotted down the answer quickly. Once again the brown owl sped out of her room. Lily felt bad for the poor bird. More than likely, he would be doing this all night. When the owl returned, Lily was more excited then ever. Her fingers were trembling as she pulled apart the seal and her eyes skimmed over the letter.

_Me, huh? Well, I have defiantly been think about you, beautiful. Did you know I liked you the past three years? I always thought Potter was going to get you first so I never even bothered to ask you out. I have always feared rejection._

Lily gasped as she read Jesse's words. He liked her? Well at least he had. That was good enough for Lily. Jesse was an amazing man, and the shock of knowing that a smart, sophisticated boy liked her caused her too sit in silence for several minutes, the letter dangling in her pale hand.

Till the early light of morning, Lily and Jesse continued to write letters back and forth to each other. Most of the time, the messages were quickly jotted and filled with sensible nonsense. Lily fell in a light slumber extremely satisfied. Her dreams were filled with Jesse's sweet face, but she was rudely interrupted in her moment of bliss by Alaina, herself.

"What did you do to my brother?" Alaina asked after she shook Lily awake. Lily blushed and bit her lip in embaressment.

She felt the real question was what had Jesse done to her?


End file.
